EV reality check: Why electric cars aren’t ready for mainstream Australia (yet)

On a recent trip down the Great Ocean Road in a $54,800 Xpeng G6, I found myself more envious of a 60-year-old Kombi, as I discovered hidden trade-offs that can prove costly.

Behind the wheel of the XPeng G6. Picture: Thomas Wielecki

It has all the bells and whistles like a shiny new toy.

But with most technological advancements, there have been certain trade-offs for convenience. Just look at recorded music and the progression from vinyl LPs, to CDs then MP3s.

In each transition there has been a step-down in sound quality but, as Steve Jobs said, the iPod delivers 1000 songs in your pocket, and now streaming has made almost every album and song recorded available with a swipe of a finger across a screen.

Call it progress. But with electric vehicles, the trade-offs are nonsensical.

Yes, you don’t have to pay for fuel any more at service stations, insulating yourself against oil price spikes.

But you still need to charge the battery, and this is the Achilles heel of EVs – in the current generation at least.

I borrowed a Xpeng G6, which is priced from $54,800, for the weekend. It’s a nice looking car with a minimalist interior, comfortable seats and top-notch driver assist tech, not to mention being as quiet as a mouse. Everything worked as it should, until I ventured outside the tram tracks.

I decided to drive down the Great Ocean Road – a two-hour drive from Melbourne. I used about 20 per cent of the battery, which provides an overall range of 435km, getting to Geelong – a 70km drive. I charged it up to 100 per cent – which took about six hours on a normal household charger.

I then drove another 70km to Lorne, using another 20 per cent of the battery. The coastal town has two 50kW chargers outside its visitor centre. I plugged it in and went across the road to the supermarket to get some supplies, somewhat rushing, mindful of not holding up any queues to access the chargers and paying the $1 per minute idling fee once charging is complete.

After about 20 minutes, I returned to the vehicle. It was just over 90 per cent charged and took almost another 10 minutes to get to 98 per cent. I paid $5 then drove off.

Thankfully, this was about 8pm in the evening in the middle of winter, not in the peak tourist season. I didn’t need to recharge the battery for this trip, that wouldn’t have helped you readers.

You see, an internal combustion engine can be filled at a servo in less than five minutes and until EVs can match that, then they will remain only an enthusiast vehicle for inner-city dwellers.

It took me about half an hour to charge 18 per cent of the Xpeng G6’s battery on a 50kW charger.

Indeed, an elderly neighbour of mine has a Nissan Leaf and recently told me her plan to drive to Queensland. She had all the charging stations mapped and planned her trip around meals, so she had something to do while her car was charging.

But when she got to her first stop, her plans were thrown out. The fast charging station was out of order after being vandalised. Going on a wing and a prayer, she hoped she would have enough charge to make it to the next station (which thankfully she did). Some people relish this level of planning and have a strategy of what capacity they need to charge their batteries to (100 per cent is rarely necessary). Others find it slightly stress inducing, causing what is known as “range anxiety”.

Put simply, the infrastructure needed to support EVs is still in its infancy. It can’t compete with service stations yet.

But wait, what about the environmental impacts? To quote a former editor of mine, the only things that can be impacted are your teeth. The green credentials of EVs are questionable.

Without a home fast charger you are still drawing from the grid, the base power of which coal still provides. Even with my 13.5kW solar system and Tesla Powerwall, it took me six hours, overnight, to complete a 20 per cent recharge on the Xpeng, with most of that coming from the coal plants of Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.

In regard to EV batteries, there is lithium and cobalt mining and the energy intensive extraction that can result in potential pollution, groundwater contamination and land degradation. Still, environmental advocates say this is less impressive than fossil fuel production.

Then there is longevity. Replacing an EV battery can cost $7500-$30,000 – more than the care is worth thanks to depreciation. While in Lorne I parked beside a restored VW Kombi, still going after 60 years and probably worth about $40,000 or more, based on Carsales data. Where the EV I was driving will be in 60 years is anyone’s guess.

During my stay in Lorne, I was also unfortunate enough to have a flat tyre. I opened the boot, lifted up the section to where I expected to see a spare tyre, jack and wrench to find only a repair kit. It was like I had bought a bicycle.

This isn’t unusual or exclusive to EVs. Most modern cars dispensed with spare tyres. Why, I do not know. Might be OK in the city, but not driving on regional roads. And EV tyres are different to those on internal combustion engines. They need to withstand the EVs heavier weight and instant torque.

The XPeng G6 is priced from $54,800.

Crucially, the mechanic I visited said he could not repair the tyre, citing the sound-dampening foam that most EV tyres use.

“I can spend an hour working on it and I might be able to fix it, or I might not be able to,” he told me.

I was envious of that Kombi, with its spare tyre sitting proudly above its front bumper.

Thankfully, it was a slow leak, and I was able to inflate the tyre up to more than 40 psi and servo-hop it back to the big smoke. Not ideal, but cheaper than a tow truck.

So should we dismiss EVs?

Not yet. Casting aside early stage tech is equally nonsensical, and EVs will evolve. Carsales data services director Ross Booth says drivers can expect some big changes in the next four years. He predicted EVs to travel more than 1000km on a single charge.

“And it would take you 10 minutes to charge to 80 per cent. That is what’s coming,” he said.

Also, what’s coming is hydrogen.

BMW and Toyota are already partnering on an all electric powertrain using hydrogen fuel cell technology that they say will take “zero-emission technology to the next level”, with filling up rivalling internal combustion engine-powered cars.

“The main difference is the way energy is stored in the car. It is stored as hydrogen, not as electricity, in the battery,” said BMW vice-president of hydrogen vehicles Michael Rath.

“From a customer perspective, it combines the best of both worlds, driving like a battery vehicle with the advantage of fast refuelling.”

Originally published as EV reality check: Why electric cars aren’t ready for mainstream Australia (yet)