The post How much extra electricity will I use in my home when I buy an EV? first appeared on Electric Vehicle Council.

Consumer behaviour studies and analysis of energy usage data highlight that most EV owners in Australia today charge at home with solar or during off-peak times, leading to minimal impact on the grid, and in many cases supporting the grid to use excess solar during the day, and spare network capacity at night.   Read more about charging behaviours here.

Energy retailers are increasingly offering retail time-of-use products specifically aimed at rewarding EV drivers with very low prices for choosing to charge in the middle of the day or the middle of the night – at time of writing, AGL, Origin, and Simply Energy have some excellent offers of this type, available in most of the country.

To learn more on energy policy as it relates to EVs, and the state of public charging infrastructure, see our latest ‘State of EVs’ report.

The post How are governments and energy providers preparing to support the energy demand from electric vehicles? first appeared on Electric Vehicle Council.

A typical passenger EV, driven 12,000km per year, will consume about 2,000kWh of electricity per year.  By comparison, a typical mainland Australian home consumes about 4,000-8,000kWh of electricity per year (depending on whether they use gas for cooking/heating or not).

Timing of *when* the electricity is consumed to charge the EV has environmental, grid security, and cost implications for the energy system and the consumer – read more about this in our guide to home EV charging.

The post How much electricity does charging an electric vehicle consume compared to typical household usage? first appeared on Electric Vehicle Council.

Governments, vehicle manufacturers and industry associations are working together to provide certification programs to allow technicians to stay up to date with the latest technology and servicing techniques.

Some example courses are included below:

TAFE NSW Electric Vehicle Bus Training

TAFE NSW EV Training Solution

Centre for U: Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure

CIT Electric Vehicle Charging and Associated Equipment

TAFE QLD Hybrid and EV Skill Set

The post How is industry working with dealerships to ensure qualified technicians can undertake repairs? first appeared on Electric Vehicle Council.

As EVs get older, the batteries progressively degrade. It is expected that at around 75% of the battery’s original capacity, it has reached the end of its life in an EV. In reality what this means is that if the car was sold with 400 km driving range, at the end of its useful life it could be down to around 300 km.

Despite potentially no longer being as useful in an EV, at the end of life in a vehicle the batteries still store significant amounts of energy. As a result, several companies are already taking used EV batteries and converting them into stationary storage to power homes, buildings and the wider electricity grid. It’s expected these used EV batteries could last up to another 10 years for these use cases.

Once an EV battery has lost a significant proportion of its original energy capacity, it can then be recycled into materials used to build new batteries. The efficiency of this recycling process continues to improve, with the possibility of having almost a closed loop in the future where batteries are fully recycled and remanufactured into new batteries.

The European Union has set a target of recycling 70% of lithium-ion batteries by 2030. Similarly, the US has a number of policies to promote the recycling of end-of-life batteries. As the EV industry continues to grow, more policies around reuse and repurposing are likely to be established by governments to ensure the ongoing sustainability of EV batteries.

The post What happens to EV batteries at the end of their useful life in a vehicle? first appeared on Electric Vehicle Council.

For road safety reasons, it’s important to take a break every 2 to 2.5 hours, given it is shown that driving for periods longer than this greatly increases the chances of being involved in a road accident due to fatigue. It is important there is fast charging infrastructure available to help facilitate these stops every 2 to 2.5 hours so commuters can charge while having a short rest.

EV owners should refer to the PlugShare application for the location and details of current EV charging stations across the country. There are ongoing plans in place to extend the national charging network so that all Australians will have access to public charging infrastructure along the major road network.

Importantly, EVs allow regional Australias to kick the dependency on expensive, foreign fuel, and instead save money by using cheap, 100% Australian-made energy to charge their vehicles.

The post Are EVs suited to regional areas? first appeared on Electric Vehicle Council.

Federal, state and local governments are all playing a role in the rollout of fast charging stations investing in the deployment of fast chargers in regional areas. Please refer to the PlugShare app for the latest information on charger type and location.

The NRMA has received government funding to create 130 fast charging sites across the national highway network with a focus on connecting regional communities to fast, accessible EV chargers.

As EV uptake increases, the rollout of charging infrastructure will also continue to increase. Local governments and businesses can work with charge point operators to install charging infrastructure. A list of members who can assist with the rollout of charging infrastructure can be found under our ‘Member Directory‘.

The post Are fast charging stations available in regional parts of Australia? first appeared on Electric Vehicle Council.

Importantly, Australia is home to many critical resources used in manufacturing EVs, including Iron, Lithium, Nickel, Cobalt, Phosphate and Copper. There is an important opportunity for Australia to accelerate the extraction and processing of these minerals to support the ethical and sustainable supply of these minerals globally.

It should also be noted that there is an increasing shift away from nickel and cobalt-based batteries for non-performance EVs, primarily lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. LFP EV batteries provide adequate driving range, but are less expensive to manufacture.

The post What is the EV industry doing in terms of material sourcing transparency and reporting? first appeared on Electric Vehicle Council.

EV fires are very rare, with overseas data suggesting that petrol/diesel vehicles are around 20 times more likely to be involved in a fire compared to EVs – after accounting for differences in the market share of each vehicle type.

Importantly, most EVs have also been awarded 5 stars under Australia’s ANCAP crash testing program.

The post Are electric vehicles safe? first appeared on Electric Vehicle Council.

Data from Sweden suggests the likelihood of an EV fire is around 20 times less likely than a petrol/diesel vehicle fire, after accounting for the differences in the market share of each vehicle type.

Here in Australia, there are only six verified EV battery fires in road-registered passenger vehicles; one was caused by arson, three were due to an external fire consequently setting the cars alight, one because it was involved in a crash, and one down to hitting road debris which penetrated the battery.

The post Are electric vehicle fires common? first appeared on Electric Vehicle Council.