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.

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 towing capacity varies depending on the make and model. It’s important to check the guidance given in the owner’s manual to understand each vehicle’s maximum towing capacity.

Keep in mind the weight and design of the trailer will affect energy consumption and driving range, similar to how fuel consumption increases for petrol or diesel vehicles when towing.

The post Can an EV tow a trailer? first appeared on Electric Vehicle Council.

Research shows that even if an EV is charged by our current electricity grid they produce lower lifecycle emissions than similar petrol or hybrid vehicles. Even more important, however, is that as the electricity grid becomes cleaner, EVs become cleaner too. It is an unavoidable truth that electric vehicles are a key technology for Australia to achieve its climate targets, including net zero.

EVs also have a nifty trick. While it is expected their batteries will be suitable for use in a vehicle for around 15 years (or equivalent in terms of total kilometres driven e.g. 180,000-200,000 km), after this time they still store a significant amount of energy. As such, these batteries can be repurposed to power homes, buildings and the electricity grid. This “second-life” could last another 10 years, before EV batteries can then be recycled, with the recovered material used to produce new batteries.

Given the small number of EVs currently on Australian roads and their long lifetimes, there is not currently a significant number of used batteries for second-life applications and/or recycling. As the local fleet increases, this economic development opportunity for our country will likely emerge. This is expected to take place during the mid to late 2030s.

Check out our Lifecycle Emissions Calculator tool to find out more.

The post Do EVs actually reduce emissions? first appeared on Electric Vehicle Council.

The average Australian drives 38 kilometres per day so a typical EV owner can go either choose to charge for 1-2 hours each day, or go for a week or more between larger recharging sessions.

Unlike petrol cars, you can recharge at home or anywhere with access to electricity.

Public fast chargers are also available.  Ultra-rapid chargers can add up to 300km of range in ten minutes, depending on the vehicle.

The post How long does charging take? first appeared on Electric Vehicle Council.

The average Australian drives 38 kilometres per day so an EV owner can go for at least 10 days without a recharge. Unlike petrol cars, you can recharge at home or anywhere with access to electricity.

The post Do EVs have enough driving range? first appeared on Electric Vehicle Council.