Media Release

for immediate release

Take a test drive, wear the EV grin

If you’re sitting on the fence about buying an electric vehicle (EV), take a test drive. A hands-on experience is one of the main things that persuade owners to buy their first EV, according to a recent survey by Flip the Fleet, a nationwide EV owners collective.

Almost a third (27%) of 343 survey participants were most persuaded to buy an EV by taking one for a drive.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” said Margaret Baker, a Kaipara EV advocate who drove New Zealand’s first 100% electric taxi in Whangarei for almost two years. She’s also given EV rides and drives to curious members of the public at community events around the country.

“Everyone I’ve seen take a ride or test drive comes back wearing the EV grin. They are surprised by the smooth, quiet, comfortable ride and the power these cars have – even the small ones.”

The survey suggested that buying a car is a complex and personal process.  As well as test drives, word of mouth was a key influence. Nineteen percent of buyers put their trust in the testimony of people like friends and family, or other EV owners before they switched. 

Other respondents put in hours of research and relied most heavily on media (20%) or websites (15%) to check out the new technology. 

Only 13% of New Zealanders say they are familiar with EVs according to market research by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

“That’s not unique to New Zealand – people’s understanding in other countries still has a long way to go,” says Henrik Moller of Flip the Fleet. A UK survey found 42% of Brits weren’t sure if you could put an EV through a car wash. “You can,” says Moller, “just like you can charge them outside in all weather conditions with the appropriate equipment.”

These are his top three ways to get up to speed on EVs:

1. Go to an event where EV owners have their cars available for rides and drives – you’ll get the hands-on experience plus the owner’s insights. See www.leadingthecharge.org.nz
2. Download EECA’s Buyer’s Guide to Electric Vehicles for an overview of EVs, their benefits and potential pitfalls. See www.eeca.govt.nz/evbuyersguide
3. Visit an EV specialist dealership – fully trained salespeople can be a font of technical and practical knowledge.

Flip the Fleet is a citizen science project that provides scientifically reliable information on the benefits and constraints of electric vehicles in New Zealand.  The project is partly funded by the government’s Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund, administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

Participation is free and all New Zealand’s electric vehicle owners can enrol at www.flipthefleet.org.

… ends

More information:

Many direct and colourful quotes of the participants in the survey described in this media release can be extracted from https://flipthefleet.org/2018/what-information-most-helps-people-to-decide-to-buy-an-ev-1-click-survey-23/

Contacts for more statements:

Margaret Baker; Flip the Fleet spokesperson – 021528250 –  applebottom@xtra.co.nz   

Henrik Moller, Prof Emeritus, Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet – 027 2268 688 – wecan@flipthefleet.org

Dima Ivanov, PowerStats Ltd.; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet –  021 927 346 – wecan@flipthefleet.org

Kathryn Fitzpatrick, Senior Communications Advisor, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority – 027 403 3378 – Kathryn.Fitzpatrick@eeca.govt.nz

Photos of the Flip the Fleet spokespeople are available from: https://flipthefleet.org/resources/team-photos/

Media Release

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Electric vehicles go the distance

If you think you can’t go places in an electric vehicle, you’re wrong. 

The latest data from Flip the Fleet, a coalition of over 1,150 EV owners from all round New Zealand, shows that electric vehicles are actually driven further each year than combustion vehicles.

The annual average distance travelled across all models of EVs is 14,100 km/year, a quarter more than the 11,500 km/year for combustion vehicles.  

Kathryn Trounson, Chairperson of The Better New Zealand Trust, couldn’t be happier!

“Our Trust provides test drives to let people experience what a joy EVs are to drive.  These data show that the switch to electric cars is also saves them money while reducing New Zealand’s carbon footprint,” Kathryn commented.

Even the very earliest Nissan Leaf model with a small battery is travelling more than the average for combustion vehicles.  The average single trip away from base and back again in a New Zealand EV is 48 km, whereas NZTA estimates that the combined distance of all the day’s trips in a combustion vehicle averages only 28 km.  One of the 30 kWh Leafs contributing to the Flip the Fleet data base is travelling 45,000 km a year. 

“The data well and truly busts the myth that EVs aren’t a practical substitute for a conventional car,” Kathryn went on to say.

 The higher average distance travelled by EVs doesn’t surprise the Flip the Fleet researchers.

“Many EV owners also retain one of their old combustion vehicles as back-up, but then concentrate most of the family’s travel in the EV to save money and enjoy a better ride. Families often run a simple rule. Whoever is going furthest that day, gets to take the EV.  That way the EV becomes the family workhorse and the household’s transport costs and transport emissions are minimised,” said Daniel Myall, Flip the Fleet’s statistician.

“EVs are particularly good for people with a reasonably long commute to work. We think some people are doing the sums and realising that even though a typical EV costs more to buy, they can quickly regain that through avoided petrol costs.” 

Flip the Fleet estimates that a commuter doing a 100 km round trip to work, five days a week, is saving $90 per week in fuel and maintenance costs. 

The sums in favour of an EV are getting even better with the recent petrol price hikes.

The Mitsubishi Outlander, a Plug-in Hybrid, averaged 19,000 km per year – the furtherest of any EV model reporting to Flip The Fleet.

At the lower end was the Nissan eNV200, the only readily available second-hand electric van for light commercial use in New Zealand so far.  Its average travel per year is just 9,400 km.

“The next big breakthrough we are look forward to is an inexpensive light commercial electric van that can travel a decent distance with a heavy load of passengers or gear on board,” said Daniel.

Flip the Fleet is a citizen science project that provides scientifically reliable information on the benefits and constraints of electric vehicles in New Zealand.  The project is partly funded by the government’s Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund, administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

Participation is free and all New Zealand’s electric vehicle owners can enrol at www.flipthefleet.org.   

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More information:

A graph of the average distances travelled by different electric vehicle models can be found at https://flipthefleet.org/2018/memo-26/

Contacts for more statements:

Kathryn Trounson, Better New Zealand Trust, based in Auckland – Kathryn@betternz.org, 022 1749 110

Daniel Myall, New Zealand Brain Research Institute, Christchurch – Daniel is Flip the Fleet’s statistician – 027 222 2585 – daniel.myall@nzbri.org

Kathryn Fitzpatrick, Senior Communications Advisor, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority – 027 403 3378 – Kathryn.Fitzpatrick@eeca.govt.nz

Henrik Moller, Prof Emeritus, Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet – 027 2268 688 – wecan@flipthefleet.org

Dima Ivanov, PowerStats Ltd.; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet; 021 927 346; wecan@flipthefleet.org Photos of the Flip the Fleet spokespeople are available from: https://flipthefleet.org/resources/team-photos/

for immediate release

Most electric vehicle owners think that increased financial incentives will be needed if New Zealand is to achieve its long-term goals for low emission transport.

Three quarters (79%) of the 542 EV owners who participated in the latest Flip the Fleet survey either ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ that financial incentives will be needed if more than half of new vehicle registrations are to be electric by 2025.

“EV owners are in a good position to know what stops others from switching” said Professor Emeritus Henrik Moller from the University of Otago’s Centre for Sustainability. Professor Moller is a co-founder of Flip the Fleet, a citizen science collaboration of EV owners from across New Zealand.

“We are constantly fielding questions about costs and the practicality of EVs.  The higher cost of buying an EV puts many people off, even though their running costs are a lot lower than for a combustion vehicle of about the same size and power”.

“Finding a way to subsidise the initial purchase and further reduce EV running costs would be a game changer in New Zealand” says Moller.

According to the survey, subsidisation of new EVs is the main way that New Zealand can secure enough supply of high quality of EVs to meet our rapidly escalating demand.

“There will be huge scramble for the EVs around the world in the coming decade, so our relatively small market is unlikely to compete unless we subsidise the manufacturers, dealers and purchasers to buy electric vehicles.”

So far New Zealand has built its EV fleet mainly by importing second hand cars from Japan and UK, the only readily available sources of left-hand drive EVs.  New Zealanders have thereby indirectly benefitted from subsidies paid to the original owners by the Japanese and UK governments.

“Reliance on second-hand EVs means we get the new EV technology late and the manufacturer’s warranty is voided when it is exported from its country of origin.”

“We are soon going to have to pay our own way by subsidising purchase of new EVs for sale in New Zealand if we are to secure an adequate supply of the latest high quality EVs with full manufacturers support” says Moller.

The most favoured financial intervention suggested by the EV owners was a system of ‘feebates’ where highly emitting combustion vehicles are penalised by having to pay higher registration fees. This additional fee is then transferred and distributed across the lower emitting vehicles like hybrids and electric vehicles.

“It’s just another form of the polluter pays principle.  Feebates could be set to be fiscally neutral, so the tax payer is not subsidising uptake.  Instead, those choosing bigger and less fuel-efficient cars are subsidising others that choose low emission vehicles” said Moller.

Other proposed interventions included a revision of the Fringe Benefit Tax rules, higher depreciation rates for tax write-offs of EVs, removal of GST on new EVs, reduced or even free electricity at off-peak times, low interest loans for buying EVs, lower insurance costs, more stringent Warrant of Fitness checks for emissions, and increasing road user charges on the higher emitting vehicles.

“Some of our members think this survey put the cart before the horse” said Moller.  “A rethink of the government’s current EV target, to have 64,000 EVs registered by 2021, is needed first.”

“We don’t know what that target was based on, nor whether it will be enough to put us on track to deliver New Zealand’s zero carbon economy ambitions and meet our international obligations for combating climate change.”

“Once a meaningful target is established, a thorough cost benefit analysis can follow to identify how much public money is needed to maximise the benefits for all New Zealanders and our environment.”

Flip the Fleet is a citizen science project that provides scientifically reliable information on the benefits and constraints of electric vehicles in New Zealand.

Participation is free and all New Zealand’s electric vehicle owners can enrol at www.flipthefleet.org.

… ends

More information:

Many direct and colourful quotes of the participants in the survey described in this media release can be extracted from https://flipthefleet.org/2018/financial-incentives-to-accelerate-ev-uptake-1-click-survey-22/

Contacts for more statements:

Henrik Moller, Prof Emeritus, Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet – 027 2268 688 – wecan@flipthefleet.org

Dima Ivanov, PowerStats Ltd.; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet; 021 927 346; wecan@flipthefleet.org

Photos of the Flip the Fleet spokespeople are available from: https://flipthefleet.org/resources/team-photos/

Media Release

for immediate release

EV owners need to pump up

Most electric vehicle owners could do with putting some more air in their tyres, according to the latest Flip the Fleet survey.

Nearly two thirds (64%) of the 512 EV owners who responded to the survey reported that they only check their tyre pressure every six months or so, or even less frequently.  Six percent never check their tyre pressure. Hopefully their mechanic does it for them during routine servicing and Warrant of Fitness checks.

“Having properly inflated tyres is not just a legal requirement, it greatly increases energy efficiency and range of the EV and it keeps the drivers’ safer on the road,” said Alan Wilden, an EV owner from Dunedin and spokesperson for Flip the Fleet.

“Having the right pressure and making sure the tyres are well aligned greatly increases the life of the tyres too and means you save even more money from an EV” said Wilden.

Low pressure increases emergency braking distances, especially in wet conditions. Over-inflating tyres can be a problem too.  It increases the chances of getting a puncture and can change steering and lateral grip so the car is harder to control when evasive manoeuvres or emergency stops are required.

Best practice guidelines for all vehicle owners is to check the tyre pressure at least once a month because tyres naturally lose between 1 and 2 pounds per square inch (psi) per month since they were last pumped up.

Most EV owners will be running on under-inflated tyres according to Wilden.  But the situation is probably even worse for petrol and diesel car owners.

“Our survey showed many owners have increased their tyre checks since getting an EV, so petrol and diesel car owners must be running on even flatter tyres” said Wilden.

Increased vigilance amongst EV owners is motivated mainly by a wish to maximise the range on a full charge.  Nevertheless, a few EV owners now do fewer checks, mainly because they no longer visit petrol stations or because they tend to use the EV for more local travel.  Previously they checked tyre pressure mainly before a long trip, and these days EV owners tend to use an old petrol car that they keep as a second car for such big excursions.

Neglect of tyres may be part of a much bigger problem of people just taking technology for granted.

“Modern cars of all sorts require much less maintenance than the older cars I owned as a young man.  People are getting out of the habit of checking and maintaining cars, including the tyres” says Wilden.

Certainly, the Flip the Fleet survey showed that many owners are pretty oblivious about their tyres.  When asked what sort of tyres they used or preferred, many couldn’t say. Others answered “round ones”, “black ones” and “ones without a puncture”.  Some replied “who cares” or admitted that “pure laziness” prevented them from checking their tyres often enough.  But smarter owners realised the importance of the tyres for vehicle efficiency and targeted low rolling resistance brands.  Two owners even filled their EV’s tyres with nitrogen rather than air because they believe that this keeps them properly inflated for longer and gives a smoother ride.

Flip the Fleet is a citizen science project that provides scientifically reliable information on the benefits and constraints of electric vehicles in New Zealand.  The project is partly funded by the government’s Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund, administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

Participation is free and all New Zealand’s electric vehicle owners can enrol at www.flipthefleet.org.

… ends

More information:

Many direct and colourful quotes of the participants in the survey described in this media release can be extracted from https://flipthefleet.org/2018/optimum-tyre-pressures-and-tyre-types-for-electric-vehicles-one-click-survey-21/

Contacts for more statements:

Alan Wilden; Flip the Fleet spokesperson – 021 145 2682

Henrik Moller, Prof Emeritus, Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet – 027 2268 688 – wecan@flipthefleet.org

Dima Ivanov, PowerStats Ltd.; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet; 021 927 346; wecan@flipthefleet.org

Kathryn Fitzpatrick, Senior Communications Advisor, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority – 027 403 3378 – Kathryn.Fitzpatrick@eeca.govt.nz

Photos of the Flip the Fleet spokespeople are available from: https://flipthefleet.org/resources/team-photos/

Media Release

for immediate release

EV owners share the love

People may be kinder to their family and wider community after buying an electric vehicle (EV).

It’s an unexpected result from the latest Flip the Fleet survey which asked EV owners how their transport habits have changed since buying an EV.

Nearly two thirds (62%) of the 474 EV owners who responded to the survey reported that their transport habits either hadn’t changed, or had only changed a little, since buying an EV.

“That shows just how easily EVs fit into most families’ lives.  For the majority of families EVs have the range they need for everyday use,” said Megan Reynolds, an EV owner from Christchurch.

“But more than just doing their job, EVs also bring family and friends closer together as the cheap running costs and enjoyable driving experience mean that I’m more likely to volunteer to do the pick-up and drop off of other people’s kids. EV ownership has made me more likely to help people,” said Reynolds.

A pensioner reported that the one-hour trip to Wellington to visit a new granddaughter used to cost at least $20 in an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) car. “Now I visit when I want.” Children of EV owners are also benefitting: “I’m more likely to take my son directly to football, and without grumbling about his inability to arrange a lift or carpooling,” said a busy parent.

Many EV households are effectively running a combination family fleet programme: they keep an old petrol or diesel car as a second car, but shift as much of their family’s driving to their EV so they can save money, save the planet and enjoy the better car.

“The old petrol or diesel car is often a backstop. It gets a spin on occasional long trips or to tow the trailer, but often ends up collecting cobwebs while the family prefers to use the EV for everyday transport,” said Reynolds.

Families with duel EV/ICE car ownership use a team approach. One family said that despite having four drivers, often going different places, sharing two EVs and an ICE, they have become so good at maximising use of the EVs that the ICE is sometimes unused for a week at a time. “We have to plan more who gets the EV and who gets the ICE, depending on who’s going further to utilise the EV more,” said one family representative.

Everyone agreed that the EV is a delight to drive. Sometimes it pays to be the early bird: “My wife steals the EV,” joked one respondent.

Some EV owners even want to share beyond their own families. “I have a very different attitude about this car,” said one respondent. “I want the EV to be a communal car for the family living here. Everyone is free to use the EV when I don’t need it. Limiting carbon is the aim, so sharing the EV rather than other family members driving their hybrid or petrol cars makes environmental sense.”

“What we need are communal ICEs for use on those occasional long trips or towing the trailer. The ideal would be for more families to have no car at all, but if they need one, for it to be just an EV, and then to borrow the use of an ICE when it’s absolutely needed.” This car sharing arrangement is used by some owners like Reynolds who lends her car to friends when she flies out of town. She said “A friend using her EV saves the friend petrol costs and mitigates some of her carbon guilt from the CO₂ produced by flying.”

The low cost of EVs allows some owners to go further.  One respondent said that EV ownership “sets me free”. Another owner picks up hitchhikers and takes them closer to their destination. Others appreciate the time saved by using the EV access lanes on the Auckland motorway and when in peak traffic they tend to be more chill because the car is not using any fuel when stuck in the queue.

“The survey results showed that EVs are not just changing our mobility, they are also bringing us closer together,” said Reynolds.

Flip the Fleet is a citizen science project that provides scientifically reliable information on the benefits and constraints of electric vehicles in New Zealand.  The project is partly funded by the government’s Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund, administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

Participation is free and all New Zealand’s electric vehicle owners can enrol at www.flipthefleet.org.

… ends

More information:

Many direct and colourful quotes of the participants in the survey described in this media release can be extracted from https://flipthefleet.org/2018/1-click-survey-20/.

Contacts for more statements:

Megan Reynolds; Flip the Fleet spokesperson – wecan@flipthefleet.org

Henrik Moller, Prof Emeritus, Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet – 027 2268 688 – wecan@flipthefleet.org

Dima Ivanov, PowerStats Ltd.; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet; 021 927 346; wecan@flipthefleet.org

Kathryn Fitzpatrick, Senior Communications Advisor, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority – Kathryn.Fitzpatrick@eeca.govt.nz

Photos of Megan Reynolds are available from: https://flipthefleet.org/resources/team-photos/

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Media Release

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Electric vehicles bugged

A group of citizen scientists are planting tracking devices in electric vans and cars to measure their performance every minute of the day, month and year. It is all part of testing how well the EVs go in New Zealand conditions for work and play, where people drive and charge them, what they cost to run, even how hot their batteries get.

The “EV Black Box” taps into the EV’s instruments and transmits the data via the 3G network to a communal database operated by Flip the Fleet, a coalition of over 830 EV owners from throughout New Zealand. The devices were developed by Vasily Levshin of Exact IOT Limited.

“EVs are computers on wheels,” says Mike Sammons, Foodstuffs Sustainability Manager.  “We will learn about how well the electric vans fit our supermarket’s business needs from analysing over 130 data records streaming in from four test vans every minute.”

The first trials of the system, which are funded from the government’s Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund, started last month in an electric van operated by the New World supermarket in Orewa by Catherine Versalko-West and David West.

“Our electric van is extensively driven every day for online deliveries” says Catherine.  “The EV Black Box takes all the hassle out of uploading driving data each month.  It just plugs in and we can now forget about it while it gathers the numbers to show the capabilities of electric vans to other supermarkets.”

Foodstuffs have deployed 28 electric vans and will have over 50 public charging stations in New World, PAK’n’Save and Four Square supermarkets throughout the country by the end of 2018.

The EV Black Boxes are also helping Flip the Fleet to test what causes apparent premature battery degradation in some cars. With government’s Curious Minds funding, the Flip the Fleet project will monitor 32 Nissan Leaf electric cars from throughout Otago in the coming year.  The researchers and EV owners mainly want to measure how hot the batteries get during charging because they think a combination of heat and high charge may make the batteries fade faster.

“It’s a great opportunity for families and businesses to work together with scientists to test new technology” said Dima Ivanov, co-founder of Flip the Fleet. “They will develop a practical plan to prolong the life of their batteries while still getting the best out of their EVs.”

Participation in Flip the Fleet is free and all New Zealand’s electric vehicle owners can enrol at www.FlipTheFleet.org

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More information:

More detail about the study aims can be found at https://flipthefleet.org/2018/curious-minds-funding-to-test-battery-fade-issues/

Photos for use:

David West and Catherine Versalko-West run the electric van for home deliveries from their Orewa New World Supermarket.  Their van is now bugged by an “EV Black Box” developed by Vasily Levshin and Dima Ivanov (rear).  Two-year old Katya Ivanov is head of fun at Flip the Fleet.

Full-resolution photos available at https://flipthefleet.org/resources/flip-the-fleet-new-world-orewa-16-may-2018/

Vasily Levshin, from Exact IOT, holding the “EV Black Box” that sends electric vehicle performance data to the Flip the Fleet database.

Contacts for more statements:

Sigurd Magnusson, Foodstuffs NZ EV Project Manager- 021 42 12 08 – sigurdmagnusson@gmail.com

MBIE Curious Minds Project – contact media@mbie.govt.nz

Kathryn Fitzpatrick (Senior Communications Advisor, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority) for comments on the Low Emission Vehicle Contestable Fund contributions to this and other projects – 027 403 3378 –   Kathryn.Fitzpatrick@eeca.govt.nz

Dima Ivanov, PowerStats Ltd.; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet; 021 927 346;  wecan@flipthefleet.org

Vasily Levshin, Exact IOT, for comments on the EV Black Box – vasily@evblackbox.com

Media Release

for immediate release

Putting EV owners’ needs in charge of chargers

Car vacuum cleaners, wi-fi, a toilet or just a cup of coffee are on the list for an ideal charging station for owners of EVs (electric vehicles) but most important by far is ready availability.

Flip the Fleet, a representation of low-emission car owners, surveyed 108 EV (electric vehicle) owners to identify what makes the ideal charging station.

Top priority for respondents was to drive up and plug in to a charger in full working order, without having to queue. Immediate availability was almost twice as important as all the other features desired in a charging station. The survey found that EV owners are on average having to wait their turn to charge on 14 per cent of visits, for an average wait of between nine and 12 minutes. These owners want more chargers installed at the charging station to alleviate congestion.

“EV owners do nearly all their charging at home, where it is cheap, convenient and reliable. But it’s also important to have access to rapid chargers on those occasional long trips away from home” says Justin Boyd, a Flip the Fleet participant and co-ordinator to the Waikato EV group.

The survey showed that, while long-distance travel depends on creating a network of charging stations every 75 km along the main highways throughout New Zealand, more chargers are needed to relieve growing congestion in the main centres where most EV are driven.

After immediate availability of the charger, the second-most important issue for men was locating the chargers close to a main route. Women prioritized high visibility to increase their personal security while waiting to charge and were more content to drive further off the main route to charge if necessary. Proximity to shops and food, also a favourite for men, and a public toilet, especially for women, were less important. A minority want to charge close to a park for the kids or natural areas for a walk, or just to enjoy a good view while their car charges.

“I want something to do while I charge,” said a respondent. “Knowing I can get back to my car quickly when required, I stop, go to the toilet, grab a snack, maybe get some stuff for home and then head off.” There is a handy app from ChargeNet that will send a text to the user when the car is fully charged. Shelter from the weather was important, too.

Justin Boyd believes education of EV and ICE owners will help to reduce congestion at chargers.

“As the survey shows, sometimes EV owners leave their car at the charger while they go to do some shopping and don’t return in time before it’s full,” he says. “So the car is fully charged but is blocking access for others.”

EV owners get most aggravated when they get ‘ICEd’. That’s their term for finding that an ICE (internal combustion engine) car has taken the EV’s charging spot.

“If parking is at a premium, and the charger is key to getting home, it’s frustrating to find an ICE owner has taken the only charging spot in the vicinity,” Mr Boyd says. “How would people feel if an EV blocked the only petrol station between them and home? We need to continue to promote the benefits of EVs to all the community and to build mutual respect to the needs of drivers of both ICE cars and EVs.”

Fortunately, the survey found that ICEing happens only around 2% of the time on average. The exception is Dunedin, where EV owners are blocked from the charger between 6% and 15% of the time.

Mr Boyd welcomes the issues raised by the survey. “The more we know about the developing issues, the better placed we are to lobby for them to be corrected,” he says. “It’s a collective effort of government and business to build the charging network, and we are supremely grateful for their investments.”

Flip the Fleet is a citizen science project that provides scientifically reliable information on the benefits and constraints of electric vehicles in New Zealand.  This survey was partly funded by the Government’s Curious Minds portfolio, and partly by its Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund, administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

Participation is free and all New Zealand’s electric vehicle owners can enrol at www.flipthefleet.org.

… ends

More information:

Many direct and colourful quotes of the participants in the (third) report posted at https://flipthefleet.org/resources/research-reports/

Contacts for more statements:

Henrik Moller, Prof Emeritus, Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet – 027 2268 688 –  wecan@flipthefleet.org

Dima Ivanov, PowerStats Ltd.; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet; 021 927 346;  wecan@flipthefleet.org

Justin Boyd; Flip the Fleet spokesperson – justin@goodhabitat.co.nz  – 022 342 7044

Kathryn Fitzpatrick, Senior Communications Advisor, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority – 027 403 3378 –   Kathryn.Fitzpatrick@eeca.govt.nz

Photos of Justin Boyd are available from:  https://flipthefleet.org/resources/team-photos/

Media Release

for immediate release

Drive EVs to stop war

Buying an electric vehicle can help the world to avoid war. Well, Flip the Fleet didn’t expect that when they polled owners of electric vehicles this month on their reasons for buying an EV. But the respondent was adamant: “Oil played a huge part almost all wars since WW2. The Syrian war today is an oil war,” referring to the way both the West and Russia have an interest in oil pipelines going through Syria. This comment was one of many from owners who drive electric cars partly to escape the oil industry’s power, and its impact on our economy and environment.

“EV owners tend to think globally and act locally,” says Ms Pam McKinlay, a spokesperson for Flip the Fleet, and EV owner.

This month’s poll asked EV owners what their main reason for buying their cars: fast pick-up/acceleration; green credentials; low running costs; smart technology; quiet and comfortable ride; or for some other reason. The desire to promote world peace fell into the last option.

Nearly half of the respondents, at 49%, had bought an EV for its green credentials. Many felt a personal and global responsibility to avoid greenhouse gases and climate change by taking the ‘car’ out of their ‘carbon footprint’.  One named Donald Trump in providing a wake-up call that people can’t rely on politicians to protect the planet – so they figured they had to step up themselves. Many expressed a sense of urgency and figured that buying an EV was one of the most practical ways that families and businesses can act for our children’s future.

Low running costs was the main attraction of EVs for 33% of respondents, mainly because of reduced fuel costs. Financially-savvy respondents saw that savings extend far beyond the petrol pump – for example, EVs are expected to last a lot longer and travel way further in their lifetime than equivalent internal combustion vehicles. The simple construction of electric motors also means they cost a lot less to maintain.

The smart technology was the EV’s main pull for 7% of respondents, and 4% mainly wanted the quiet, comfortable ride. The latter included an elderly, hearing-impaired couple who now enjoy a nice chat while driving – and that may even ensure peace in their world, too.

Lots of the owners found it hard to single out a main reason for buying because they love the whole package.

“Women and men are equally likely to buy electric, but they tend to do so for different reasons,” said Ms Mckinlay.  “Our surveyed showed that women were more likely to choose EVs for their green credentials, and men were more likely to rate low running costs and the smart technology as their main reason for buying.”

Flip the Fleet is a citizen science project that provides scientifically reliable information on the benefits and constraints of electric vehicles in New Zealand.  The project is partly funded by the Government’s Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund, administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA). Ms McKinlay is one of over 750 electric vehicle owners that have signed up to contribute monthly data from their electric vehicles to a communal database.

Participation is free and all New Zealand’s electric vehicle owners can enrol at www.FlipTheFleet.org

… ends

More information:

Many direct and colourful quotes of the participants in the survey described in this media release can be extracted from https://flipthefleet.org/2018/1-click-survey-18/

Contacts for more statements:

Henrik Moller, Prof Emeritus, Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet – 027 2268 688 –  wecan@flipthefleet.org

Dima Ivanov, PowerStats Ltd.; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet; 021 927 346;  wecan@flipthefleet.org

Pam McKinlay; Flip the Fleet spokesperson – tompam@xtra.co.nz

Kathryn Fitzpatrick, Senior Communications Advisor, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority –  Kathryn.Fitzpatrick@eeca.govt.nz

Photos of Pam McKinlay are available from:  https://flipthefleet.org/resources/team-photos/

Media Release

for immediate release

Men miss the vroom-vroom

Some men may feel that buying an electric vehicle will harm their macho image – the powerful thrum and explosions of an internal combustion engine are apparently more manly than the quiet, powerful serenity of an electric engine.  That’s more likely to appeal to women.

That was a common opinion in the latest poll from Flip the Fleet which asked owners of electric cars to comment on whether men and women are equally likely to switch to an electric vehicle (EV).

Slightly more than 60% of respondents agreed that the sexes were equally likely to switch, but they varied widely on why.

Some of those that disagreed had some pretty blunt feedback.  One said: “I go to the farmer’s market almost every weekend and promote EVs. Typically, you will have Mum, Dad and the kids visit our booth. The kids get it… they plug in their phone, computer, headphones so why would you not plug in your car? Mum gets it: she wants a car that is safe, practical and saves money. Dad rarely, if ever, gets it. No noise, no smell, no oil, no mess – how can this be good? The dad is 97.5% likely to be the dinosaur.”

Another respondent said: “Women tend to be more conscious of conservation and such like. Men tend to be the ones who would still like an E-type.”  Women seem to be more engaged in their EV than they are in their ICE car because it reflects a conscious decision to be environmentally friendly.

There was also wide disparity on perceptions of how men and women handle the technical side of EVs.  A majority felt that generally men are more technically minded and therefore more comfortable with charging the EV and monitoring its battery condition and range. This may be reflected in women being more prone to “range anxiety” – the fear that they will run out of power and be stranded.

Flip the Fleet’s survey fits with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority’s recent market research which shows that while men are still slightly more likely than women to consider buying a battery EV (31% in October-December 2017), interest from women is growing more quickly, up from 14% in October-December 2016 to 22% a year later.

While one EV owner found the survey question to be “the most pointless question ever on Flip the Fleet”, Joe Camuso, a spokesperson for citizen science team that ran the survey, believes that the poll highlighted important strategies for increasing EV uptake in New Zealand.

“EV advocacy messages need to be more inclusive of both genders and all motivations for switching to electric.   Cars are no longer just men’s talk.  But how often do you meet a woman selling cars on a dealers’ forecourt? Nor are EVs just for greenies.  If we don’t get more inclusive in our advertising and messaging, there is a real risk that we will talk past a key part of the buying public – the women out there who are increasingly leading the switch to electric” said Mr Camuso.

Despite the wide range of opinions about the importance of gender for the pitch, there was widespread consensus on one key strategy. “Put a man or a woman behind the wheel for a test drive, and they are sold in a minute. It’s a fast, quiet and comfortable ride.  Later you can fill in that they are also good for your purse and the planet” said Mr Camuso.

Flip the Fleet is a citizen science project that provides scientifically reliable information on the benefits and constraints of electric vehicles in New Zealand.  The project is partly funded by EECA, The New Zealand Government’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. Mr Camuso is one of over 700 electric vehicle owners that have signed up to contribute monthly data from their electric vehicles to a communal database.

Participation is free and all New Zealand’s electric vehicle owners can enrol at www.flipthefleet.org

… ends

More information:

Many direct and colourful quotes of the participants in the survey described in this media release can be extracted from https://flipthefleet.org/2018/1-click-survey-17/

Contacts for more statements:

Henrik Moller, Prof Emeritus, Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet – 027 2268 688 –  wecan@flipthefleet.org

Dima Ivanov, PowerStats Ltd.; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet; 021 927 346;  wecan@flipthefleet.org

Kathryn Fitzpatrick, Senior Communications Advisor, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (for comments on the EECA survey quoted in the story) – 027 403 3378 –   Kathryn.Fitzpatrick@eeca.govt.nz

Joe Camuso; Flip the Fleet spokesperson – 0274 384 639 – swimswithwhales@gmail.com

Photo of Joe Camuso are available from:  https://flipthefleet.org/resources/team-photos/

Photo title:  A united couple of EVangelists

Janie and Joe Camuso have been driving electric vehicles around Whangarei since December 2013. Their Gen 1 Nissan Leaf has clocked up 130,000km, including time as New Zealand’s first electric taxi. The only maintenance and repairs have been replacement windshield wipers and tyres. Janie now drives the Gen 1 as the Camusos have upgraded the taxi with the 30 kW version of the Nissan Leaf.

Janie loves the car, she says, particularly because she doesn’t have to visit petrol stations, which can be messy, smelly and inconvenient. She is a school teacher and most of the parents and kids have had rides or borrowed the car to have a go.

Joe typically rides his bicycle to work, so Janie has first right of refusal for use of the family EV.  On weekends they enjoy emission-free weekend chores and visiting friends.

Media Release

for immediate release

Electric vehicles are part of a longer sustainability journey

A new survey shows that while early adopters of electric vehicles bought them for environmental reasons and values, the switch to electric drove them further along a sustainability journey.

These findings come from this month’s survey by Flip the Fleet, a citizen science coalition of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners that upload data from their vehicles to a communal database each month.

Over half (59%) of the 312 respondents to the survey “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that owning an electric vehicle had spurred them to take other steps towards a more sustainable life like reducing waste, planting trees, reducing air travel and especially installing solar panels.

“It’s about green chickens and green eggs” says Professor Henrik Moller, a co-founder of Flip the Fleet.  “Mainly environmentalists have bought electric vehicles so far, but even these committed greenies have gone harder to reduce their environmental footprint since buying their electric vehicles”.

“Once mainstream families and businesses buy electric vehicles, they also start to become more aware of other ways that they can help the environment at the same time as scoring a cheap, reliable, and really good drive”.

“Installing solar panels is a natural next step once you have an electric vehicle, or a good added reason to buy one in the first place.  Reducing personal air travel is a lot harder for many people.”  said Professor Moller.

Flip the Fleet calculates the monthly savings of greenhouse gas emissions from each family’s car, and what the equivalent of that is in terms of offsetting air travel.  One respondent commented that “My wife and I blew four years of the savings in greenhouse gas emissions from owning our electric car by going to Europe for a holiday last year – that was a real wake-up call for us to reduce our air miles”.

The way EV owners drive their conventional cars changes too. Survey respondents said “We now drive it slow and steady” and “When some petrol head barrels past us up the hills, we snigger.  If they only knew how much they added to their fuel bill by driving like teenagers they might slow down”.

Many other surveyed owners saw buying an electric vehicle very much as the end of an already well-advanced journey to become more sustainable. As one respondent put it: “It was the other way around for me. Becoming less wasteful, then installing solar, spurred me towards getting an electric car”.

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) says the survey results are encouraging and EECA’s Energywise website https://www.energywise.govt.nz/ has lots of practical information about how people can transition to a more efficient, warmer and lower carbon lifestyle.

One tool that EV owners might be particularly interested in, is the solar calculator https://www.energywise.govt.nz/tools/solar-calculator/ which works out if solar stacks up for your home. Meanwhile Professor Moller says the biggest challenge ahead for New Zealand “is to convince people to buy electric vehicles for their other benefits such as low running costs”.

“We are more than doubling the number of electric vehicles and plugin hybrids in New Zealand every year.  But it won’t be enough to just have existing environmentalists buy electric vehicles. Sooner or later this green wave of uptake is going to slow or even stall unless policy and investment makes EVs so cheap and practical that nearly everyone wants one.  After that, the EVs will do their own magic and grow green chickens from green eggs”.

Flip the Fleet is a citizen science project that provides scientifically reliable information on the benefits and constraints of electric vehicles in New Zealand.  The project is partly funded by EECA, The New Zealand Government’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority.

Participation is free and all New Zealand’s electric vehicle owners can enrol at www.flipthefleet.org

… ends

More information:

The Flip the Fleet project is described at: www.flipthefleet.org. See the ‘Discussion’ and the ‘Resources’ pages there for further data and results of a recent survey of New Zealand’s electric vehicle owners about battery health.

Many direct and colourful quotes of the participants in the survey described in this media release can be extracted from https://flipthefleet.org/2018/1-click-survey-16/

Contacts for more statements:

Henrik Moller, Prof Emeritus, Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet – 027 2268 688 – wecan@flipthefleet.org

Dima Ivanov, PowerStats Ltd.; and cofounder of Flip the Fleet; 021 927 346; wecan@flipthefleet.org

Photos of Henrik are available from: https://flipthefleet.org/resources/team-photos/

Flip the Fleet has members spread throughout New Zealand.  We list the contact details of some local contributors below in case you want to get a local perspective for your story.  Please ring 027 2268688 or Email wecan@flipthefleet.org so we can find a local member to speak to you.