Are electric cars good for city driving only? NZ farmer busts another EV myth

Are electric vehicles suitable for city driving only?

According to Mike Casey, the self-described “electric cherry orchardist from New Zealand” whose fossil fuel free farm in Central Otago added two Hyundai Konas to the mix in 2021, this is one of the most persistent EV myths he comes across.

“What I get a lot is people talk about electric vehicles and what they say with electric vehicles is that they’re great for people in the city, but they’re not great for the people in the country,” Casey told the 2024 National Renewables in Agriculture Conference in Queensland last week.

“And I always have to remind them that that couldn’t actually be further from the truth. Literally, the more [kilometres] you drive, the better off you are driving an electric vehicle.”

Casey attended the Toowoomba conference as one of a number of farmers who shared the inspirational things they are doing – ranging from the no-brainer, easily accessible (“I’m an orchardist, so I like low-hanging fruit”) through to the experimental and trail-blazing – to reduce costs and cut carbon footprints.

Casey has described the 2021 purchase of the two Konas as one of the last pieces of the puzzle to make Forest Lodge Orchard New Zealand’s first fully electric / zero emission food producer.

But as he told the conference the cost savings potential of taking his family’s road transport electric has proven to be really significant.

“Namely because we live 15 kilometers away from town, which means I have to drive 60 kilometers every day to drop my kids to and from school,” he said.

And he says understanding of the potential savings electric vehicles can deliver for farming families are starting to catch on more broadly through the agricultural community.

“One of the most remarkable things we now see in New Zealand is the number of farmers that are adopting electric vehicles because they’re starting to realise that per kilometer cost [of fuelling them is] significantly less than [petrol or diesel],” Casey says.

And particularly as the cost of electric vehicles continues to come down, while the range of models and EV types available to buy continue to grow.

“You might not be able to use them for everything on a high country sheep station but we sure as hell can use them to run to the supermarket and drop your kids at school.”