Peter Carr
Gliding silently (and carefully) through our village the other day my mind turned to the advantages – or otherwise – of not depending on fossil fuels for vehicular propulsion.
Yes, I have become one of those smug holier-than-thou drivers who have looked at the alarming carbon emission growth and elected, at car change time, to go for something greener. Before going further, I am not a diehard Greens fan but do respect a small number of their views. Their input to the (then new) 2017 MMP government decision to scrap the extension to the southern end of the Waikato Expressway was tantamount to dooming several people to their deaths – or at least permanent crippling of their bodies between Cambridge and Piarere. I deem that as political manslaughter.
So, having got that off my chest why did I elect to move away towards a different form of mechanical propulsion?
It was not the government’s dangling carrot of a rebate as the price for electric cars went up anyway due to demand. It was not a desire to balance off the absolutely confusing carbon emission payments as to whether one’s trees are native or timber-producing commercial. It was a simple matter of finding a smaller car that looked after our driving costs to maintain what is essentially a relatively local environs perambulation on four wheels.
I did not want to be dependent on plugging in either to the house nor a roadside commercial power supply point. So I decided on a pure hybrid that essentially looks after itself. There were several choices however the final decision was driven by finding a supplier who did not have a six-month waiting list. And I am very pleased with the decision. Seven months down the track the small 40 litre tank has only been filled four times and carefully driven in economy mode, has seen the petrol consumption drop at a steady rate. Not ‘flooring the foot’ is but one positive aspect of finding the sweet spot when battery power kicks in. Gliding upwards slowly produces welcome rewards.
Over this weekend we have been visited by friends from Auckland who are driving a very smart Chinese-branded totally electric (chargeable) car built around a highly respected European chassis. We were witness to the decision as to ‘which’ power supply point to use to get them back to Auckland. It was an interesting exercise as prices here in Cambridge vary quite widely and there are a growing number of points to activate for the topping up exercise. For me the whole thing was an eye-opener as sitting in a café five minutes’ walk from the power point, we were able to check up the top-up level on the mobile phone while enjoying a kerbside breakfast. Pretty smart stuff and good utilisation of waiting time.
All that said the up-front capital cost of the vehicle was eye-watering. Call me prejudiced if you will but $80,000 or so for a car appears to this pensioner to be a bit much. As they say – if you have it feel free to flaunt it. But it did come supplied with some very smart technical wizardry. Including a drone’s-view aspect when gliding into parking spots.
