Artist's impression
There has been a growing amount of negative mainstream media reporting on electric vehicles recently, and many myths still need busting on a regulator basis. Some of this is borne from ignorance or a fear of the unknown, some of it is the product of the fossil fuel lobby efforts to slow down the inevitable transition.
Rather than focus on the negatives, I thought it would be refreshing to talk about the wonderful array of benefits that come from switching to an electric vehicle.
Whether you are on the fence about purchasing your first EV or have friends or family who are unsure about making the transition, talking about these benefits will hopefully encourage people to take an EV for a test drive or finally make the jump into an EV.
Before getting into the benefits though, it is worth acknowledging that EVs aren’t for everyone, and there are use cases that EVs can’t fulfil yet.
My brother is a perfect example, he lives completely off-grid on a rural property and enjoys travelling in his 4WD through the remote outback and across deserts. It may still be years before suitable electric 4WDs and the necessary infrastructure exist to fulfil my brother’s use case. (Although, to be sure, some off-grid people do have EVs).
In the meantime, here are eight key benefits that everyone can take advantage of by switching to an electric vehicle.
One of the main benefits of electric vehicles is they are fun and easy to drive, with a better overall driving experience compared to an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. Electric vehicles are smooth, quiet and simple to drive after a short adjustment period for those who have not driven one before.
Instant torque and higher revving motors mean electric vehicles don’t need any gears, resulting in acceleration that is smooth and powerful. Any electric vehicle owner will quickly tell you how much fun their EV is to drive. In my experience after almost 5 years, the instant acceleration never gets old either.
The instant torque in an EV can also help make certain scenarios safer, such as merging onto highways or being able to overtake quickly on two way roads. A low centre of gravity due to battery pack placement in EVs also means they generally handle well on corners and twisty roads.
Regenerative braking and one pedal driving in EVs with this feature quickly become second nature and make it hard to go back to an ICE car once you get used to it. Accelerating and braking with a single pedal and the ability to take your feet off the pedals while stopped at lights helps to make an EV more relaxing to drive through traffic.
Electric vehicles often come with additional convenience features and functionality as a benefit of driving around with a large battery pack. Many EVs include features to pre-cool or heat the vehicle remotely during hot or cold weather. Imagine hopping into your pre-heated car with a nice toasty seat and steering wheel on those frosty winter mornings.
On hot days you can leave the climate control running while you duck into the shops or sit parked waiting somewhere. You can do these sorts of things guilt free knowing that you aren’t spewing toxic exhaust fumes into your kids school or polluting the local environment.
More and more EVs now include the ability to use their battery pack to power things using vehicle to load (V2L). This feature can be particularly useful during power outages, as demonstrated by people powering appliances like fridges or life-saving dialysis machines. EVs with vehicle to home (V2H) and vehicle to grid (V2G) will arrive in the near future.
Electric vehicles are very quiet too, which makes them a great place to enjoy music, podcasts or conversations with other passengers while driving. You may still hear road or wind noise on the highway, but EV manufacturers are increasingly aware of this, using EV specific tyres and acoustic laminated glass to help make their cabins even quieter.
EVs are also much quieter on the outside which benefits others. I love it when a near-silent electric bus glides by and look forward to the future when virtually all road transport becomes fully electric. Electric garbage trucks and delivery vans will also greatly reduce noise pollution as they become more commonplace.
If you have off street parking at home or the ability to access a powerpoint where you park, then keeping your EV charged should be easy. Charging is probably the biggest concern for new EV buyers, although existing EV owners will quickly reassure you that it is simply not an issue at all.
Depending on how much you drive, a standard 10 amp powerpoint may be sufficient to keep the car topped up each day. Otherwise, a higher power wallbox which can fully charge most EVs in several hours may be required. It is best to start with a standard powerpoint and see how you manage first.
Charging your EV at home or work is convenient and means you never need to stop on your way to or from somewhere to fill up. It takes 5 or 10 seconds to plug the vehicle in and the rest happens seamlessly, no more standing at the petrol station holding the bowser and breathing fumes while waiting.
For people without off-street parking at home, keeping your EV charged will require more planning until public charging stations become more common in areas such as shopping centres and car parks. EV charging providers are also starting to roll out diverse solutions such as kerbside and power pole mounted chargers to give people more options.
Public charging on road trips in an EV is getting easier as the charging network continues to expand, particularly into rural and remote areas. Taking regular charging breaks and reframing things as charging while you are stopped instead of stopping to charge helps to make EV road trips more relaxing and enjoyable so you can arrive feeling refreshed.
Electric vehicles are generally more spacious than similarly sized combustion vehicles, especially those based on dedicated EV platforms.
There is no need for a transmission tunnel or gearbox that eats into the middle of the car so front seats can be more roomy and rear seats are often more usable. Longer wheelbases in EVs also helps to create more interior space and a bigger gap between rows.
Storage space is also better in EVs and they often include additional space under the bonnet via a front boot (froot) or front trunk (frunk). Some electric vehicles have handy features such as drainage holes in the frunk so you can use them for wet gear or to keep drinks cold on ice if necessary.
When it comes to charging an electric vehicle, it can be very cheap to charge if you have access to off-street parking on a regular basis. For example, homeowners with solar systems or off-peak tariffs can pay as little as $5 to $10 to charge their electric vehicle. Some owners may be able to take advantage of free charging at work or public chargers too.
For EV owners relying solely on public charging, costs will be higher than charging at home but can still be significantly cheaper than petrol or diesel by seeking out AC chargers which have lower per kWh rates. Slower DC chargers can also be used to avoid paying for expensive high-speed DC charging when it is not needed.
There are roughly two orders of magnitude or 100 times less moving parts in an EV compared to ICE vehicles, which makes them more reliable and cheaper to maintain. If you have owned older ICE cars and had to replace things such as mufflers, gearboxes or clutches you will appreciate the simplicity and reliability of electric drivetrains.
Service intervals for EVs are usually longer, with cheaper fixed price servicing from manufacturers or in some cases free for a number of years with new electric vehicles. As electric vehicles become more widespread, dedicated EV service centres will give consumers more choice to avoid manufacturer servicing which can sometimes be inflated to try and retain aftermarket profits.
An often overlooked benefit of driving an electric vehicle is their versatility. As described above, EVs are fun to drive and generally more spacious so you can have a car that is capable of many different things without compromise.
For example, a family sized car can also be something that is fun to drive on the weekend, while being efficient for daily commuting and spacious enough to load up with gear for a camping trip.
The benefits described above are primarily focused on EV owners, whereas there are wider public benefits from EV ownership as well. With zero tailpipe emissions, EVs reduce deaths caused by particulates and have a lower carbon footprint over their entire lifetime compared to ICE vehicles. Their carbon footprint will continue to improve as the electricity grid becomes increasingly renewable.
There are also wider economic benefits for the community with EVs, such as no longer buying fuel and giving money to overseas oil companies. As explained by Robert Llewellyn on a recent The Driven podcast, all of the money spent on public EV charging stays in the Australian economy.
If you own an EV, please share your knowledge and ownership experience with others. If you haven’t already done so, take all your friends, family and anyone interested for a drive and show them how you charge. Encourage people who might be on the fence about EVs to take a test drive or rent one for their next holiday.
Last but not least, keep busting those electric vehicle myths when you come across them. By doing all of these things we can help to demystify electric vehicle ownership and give more people access to the numerous benefits that are available with an EV!
Tim has 20 years experience in the IT industry including 14 years as a network engineer and site reliability engineer at Google Australia. He is an EV and renewable energy enthusiast who is most passionate about helping people understand and adopt these technologies.
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You will not be able to sell your used EV because only a fool will buy a car that will soon need new batteries which will cost 40,000 to 50,000 dollars... There may be a charging point within your EV's range but is it working? is there a queue of cars when each car will take about 45 minutes or more to charge