My first car was an electric blue Citroen Dyane. I called her Hermione. She had a 602cc engine and, with a following wind, could almost get up to the speed limit on the motorway. She sipped petrol but struggled with hills. Hermione went to the great scrapyard in the sky many years ago and now, like so many of us, I drive a big wagon which guzzles the gas and gets the family from A to B. I’d love to switch to a renewable energy option. I’ve looked enviously at my friend’s shiny new Tesla, but I always thought that an electric vehicle was out of my price range. 

Turns out there might be another way.

The Good Car Company is a start-up founded by three sustainability entrepreneurs, Anthony Broese van Groenou, Anton Vikstrom and Sam Whitehead, who are passionate about decarbonising transport.

You don’t see many electric cars around Australia, but there are probably more than you realise. Luxury models, such as the Tesla and the Rivian, get most of the attention here. Outside Australia, however, many of the big manufacturers — Hyundai, Daihatsu, BMW, Nissan, Mini, –are offering electric and hybrid models. Better still, there is a growing market for second hand electric cars. The great thing about buying second hand electric is that there are very few parts to go wrong: compared to a petrol engine, an electric car is cheap and easy to maintain and ages with grace. Which is why the Good Car Company is collaborating with communities around Australia to deliver Electric Vehicle – aka ‘EV’ – Bulk-Buy’s.

Why go electric?

If you’ve never considered an EV, here are some of the benefits:

  • Lower fuel costs, less maintenance and lower cost of life

  • Zero particulates and no fumes on cold mornings

  • Avoid service stations, holiday price gouging & oil wars

  • Great driving experience, fully automatic with hill start assist.

They are now offering 2017-19 40kWh Nissan Leaf, 2015-17 30kWh Nissan Leaf and 2014-17 24kWh Nissan Leaf. The Good Car Company offers all vehicles below normal rates, with savings in shipping and compliance, passed onto to you. And they also pass through any savings achieved at auction to make getting an EV that much easier. This offer includes standard upgrades including Japanese to English head-unit (stereo and controls), dash instruments and an Australian charging cable. Plus, of course, full support and warranty.

The bulk-buy of affordable electric cars will help the transformation of transport to a low carbon emission future.

I’m determined Hermione #2 will be electric.

Electric vehicles. They’re expensive and we don’t have the infrastructure. Right?

Wrong.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are coming down in price, and they’re much cheaper to run than petrol cars. They don’t need special equipment to charge and, as a bi-directional mobile battery, they could play a key role in the renewable energy revolution. Which is why Zero Emissions Sydney North has formed a working group to research EVs, looking at the pros and cons, the market, and affordable options for going electric.

In the first in a series of posts about electric vehicles, Ursula Hogben, one of the founding members of Zero Emissions Sydney North, gives us the highlights of a webinar held by the Coalition For Conservation Electric Vehicles and Sustainable Mobility panel on 12 May 2020.

If you’d like to know more, read on. And if you work in the electric vehicle industry or are interested in our EV working group please do get in touch. Continue reading “Reporting on… Electric Vehicles”