The GM EV1 came out in 1996, 26 years ago, and ever since then I've been saying, "My next car will be electric." However, as the saying goes, man plans and God laughs.
Of course, the EV1 was a bit of a novelty. First, you couldn't buy them, you could only lease them, in part because (I believe) they knew the batteries wouldn't last. Monthly payments started at US $500/month, which is equivalent to $950 today, and at the end of the lease you didn't own anything, so it was more like an expensive rental. Initially you could only get them if you lived in LA, Phoenix or Tucson because (I believe) they were worried about cold weather performance. But the real issue was a stated range of 70 to 100 miles (110-160km) with no charging stations anywhere. Nevertheless, they were a hit, which is why GM shut down the assembly line, cancelled the leases, repossessed the cars and crushed them. (I'm not kidding.)
In 1996 I was 27, making good money and had no kids: I could have afforded it. But my commute was 34 miles (54km) each way and my Dodge Colt - which I'd bought new in 1988 - was getting unreliable and I was always worrying if I'd get home or not. I wasn't going to pay all that money to have the same worry! (In addition, I was carpooling with two co-workers, and the EV1 was a two-seater, so that would have been awkward.)
I realized with my Dodge Colt that buying a new car was a sucker's game--the depreciation was ridiculous, and good brands were quite reliable--so I bought a 3-year-old Pontiac Sunfire convertible which, to this day, was my favourite car. I kept it until I moved to Pennsylvania in 2006, but when my relationship fell apart I decided to fly back to Los Angeles instead of driving, and I effectively abandoned it. (I honestly have no idea why I did that.) My ex-wife sold it for peanuts.
In 2007 car sharing - where you could rent a car parked on the street using your smartphone - had become a thing, and I went for three years without owning a car. However, in 2010 I got a job with a large consulting firm which required some travel and their standard package included either a BMW or a monthly stipend for using my own car. I hate BMWs for no rational reason. They were the status symbol for yuppies when I was younger, and I've always had a negative association with them. I did not want a BMW even if it was free! However, claiming a monthly stipend for using my own car when I didn't own a car seemed dishonest, so I decided to buy a cheap car and pocket the difference.
The Toyota Prius had been released worldwide in 2000 so I could have bought a used hybrid. The Nissan Leaf was introduced in 2010, so I could have bought a pure electric vehicle. However, and I'm embarrassed to admit this, I really loved having a convertible, and so I bought a used Peugeot 306 Cabriolet for £2000. The company stipend was £200 per month and I worked for the company for 4.5 years, so I did quite well out of it. I liked that car but when I decided to move to New Zealand I found -- for reasons mostly my own fault -- I couldn't sell it, and I ended up taking it to a scrapyard.
In New Zealand, my partner already had two ICE vehicles: A Toyota Wish (which I've never seen marketed anywhere else) and a BMW Z4, which her ex-husband had bought as a sort-of apology. (She divorced him anyway but kept the car.) The BMW was a two-seater and highly impractical for a young family -- plus it did nothing to change my feelings about BMW -- so we sold that about 6 months later. The Toyota Wish was a great little car but by 2016 the kids were outgrowing it. When some friends decided to leave New Zealand, I jumped at the chance to buy their Volkswagen Touran for NZ $10,000. At the time, all the hybrids were small four-seaters and the only EV that would fit five was a new Tesla Model X, which cost about NZ $70,000.
Fast forward to 2022, the 14-year-old Touran had several very expensive repairs and was no longer reliable enough to be our only means of transportation. Plus with two new drivers in the family we could definitely use a second car. New Zealand was flooded with used Nissan Leafs, but because they don't regulate battery temperature, you have no way of knowing their actual lifespan and I wasn't willing to take a gamble. About the same time, New Zealand introduced a "clean car rebate" and the cheapest new EV - an MG ZS SUV - cost NZ $42,000 after rebate. It comfortably sat 5 and had a range of 270 miles (440km), which was perfect. There was one problem: There weren't any available in New Zealand.
We were told they'd be available in December so we patiently waited. In November, the local equivalent of Consumer Reports came out with a study showing hybrids were much more reliable than EVs. This was counter-intuitive, since the EVs had fewer moving parts, but the problem seemed to be new companies (especially Chinese firms, such as the one that had bought the MG branding) were new and still learning, plus they were trying to cram in new features. This scared me off a bit, and I decided to look at plug-in hybrids (PHEV) as a good compromise: The Prius PHV, for example, had an EV range of about 16 miles (26km), enough to get us to the airport and back. There weren't many used PHEVs available, and the ones that were sold for $3-4k over their non-plug-in counterparts. Even at current petrol prices, it would take a while to recoup that difference.
Then I saw a dealer listing a 2014 Prius PHV for $12k, which was the going rate for a regular Prius. I was sure there was a catch, but the car had just passed its Warrant of Fitness, so I knew it was roadworthy. I even got an independent inspection and he said it was great for its age. I decided that because the PHV versions are so rare, the dealer had unwittingly priced it the same as a regular Prius. I decided to buy it, even though the car was 220 miles (350km) away and I hadn't seen it.
Of course that's not the end of the story. We're also looking at buying a house, so I didn't want to eat into our downpayment. I was already aware one of the big banks was "virtue signalling" with a special interest rate for EV cars, so I contacted them. I have a great credit rating and plenty of cash, so I thought the process would take a few hours at most. So far it's been over a week, and I still haven't gotten a definitive answer yet. The issue does not have anything to do with me, but everything to do with their process: I had to fill out an online form with all my financial details, then they sent me an email which I had to respond to with all my financial details, then they called me and I had to tell them all my financial details!! At this point it's almost comical, except the dealer is getting very agitated that I haven't paid for it yet. The bank won't even tell me how the process works until I'm approved, so I don't know if they're paying the dealer or just giving me the funds. It's just nuts.
There are only a few flights from Wellington to New Plymouth and they are designed for commuters, leaving at 7am and 4:30pm, neither of which would work. On Wednesdays there is a 12:30pm flight and I intend to be on it tomorrow, even though I haven't paid for the car yet..Hopefully the dealer won't mind, and this will all work out.
And maybe my next car will be fully electric.
