Everyday people take charge of the future with electric cars

THEY’RE quiet and energy efficient and, according to their owners, electric cars are also fun to drive and guaranteed to attract attention. Forget about range anxiety - it doesn’t exist.

Steve Pronk at the wheel of his Tesla. Photo: Dominika Lis

THEY’RE quiet and energy efficient and, according to their owners, electric cars are also fun to drive and guaranteed to attract attention.

Redcliffe’s Steve Pronk is an early adopter of the technology, buying his Tesla model S P85+ three years ago.

Steve says he wanted a car that was sustainable, innovative, potentially timeless and “a bit of fun”. In his view, Tesla met all the criteria and the vehicle was worth every cent of its $180,000 price tag.

It has a 400km range and has been clocked doing 250km/h on the German autobahn.

Steve says it only has a handful of moving parts, making it more reliable and a smoother ride. This also reduces the need for frequent servicing. His first service was about two years after he bought the car and involved replacing the wiper blades and diagnostics to check everything was working as it should.

The Tesla dashboard. Photo: Dominika Lis

The brains of the car has regular software updates, adding features every two months.

Steve says it has plenty of grunt and makes peak-hour driving a breeze.

“It’s stress-free to drive because it has autopilot, which will lock onto the car in front and lock onto the white lines,” he says.

“Range anxiety doesn’t exist because there are so many places you can charge.”

Mary Kenny and Hugh Thompson with their electric car. Photo: Dominika Lis

It’s a sentiment shared by fellow electric car owners Hugh Thompson and Mary Kenny, of Scarborough, who bought their 2010 Mitsubishi i-miEV for $6200 last year.

While they say they have changed the way they drive to conserve energy, it is not hard to find somewhere to recharge.

“This is something for the everyday person you don’t have to have the really high tech ... everyday people can make a big difference to our environment if they can adopt something this simple,” Mary says.

Hugh says it has a 97km range and is easy to drive. It takes about three hours to fully charge.

They are members of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association and are keen to involve other electric car owners in the region.

Visit: aeva.asn.au