Republished from Bass Coast Post* with permission.
What surprised you the most when you switch to an EV?
While everyone had done their homework before getting an EV and knew they could outperform most ICEs in a drag race, nearly all were surprised at how truly phenomenal the acceleration is (or can be, if you don’t use an “eco-switch” to limit it and save energy).
What disappointed you the most when you switched to an EV?
The only disappointments mentioned were not to do with the EVs themselves, but rather the slow rollout of: (a) any meaningful government policy on EVs, which has left us well behind where we could have been in terms of the types of car available and their price – relative to many other countries, there’s still not a lot to choose from and they are still more expensive than they should be; (b) rapid charging stations – depending on the size of your battery, this can be a particular problem if you want to go through Gippsland and up the south coast of NSW.
They are coming, but if you have an EV now, you need the chargers to be there now too; and (c) bi-directional charging, which I spoke about in my previous article – it allows you to charge your car for free on solar during the day then use it to power your home in the evening. Bi-directional charging technology operates fine overseas and is coming to Australia, but its not here yet.
What would you have done differently?
My favourite answer to this question was “Buy an EV earlier!”. A couple of people mentioned that they could have done more research before buying but then, on reflection, both said any trepidation they had about getting an EV was unfounded because they are totally happy with what they have, so more research would probably only have led them to the same conclusion.
The final question sums up the experience in one simple score that I believe says it all: on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 10 (ecstatic) – how pleased are you that you bought an EV? Apart from one self-declared “hard marker’’ who rated their experience “around 8”, all scores were between 9.5 and 11!
In other words, once they got over any teething difficulties, these EV pioneers are ecstatic about their decision to switch to an all-electric car.
*Full article here.