EVs – or Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) – are solely electric vehicles. This means that you plug it into a charger, and it uses only available battery power to drive.

Both provide advantages. A PHEV might suit someone who lives inner city, where trips are commonly short in duration and distance, so that the vehicle can mainly use the electric power it has without needing to significantly access the motor.

The benefit continues for longer trips away, where charging infrastructure may not be as readily available, and the vehicle is able to rely solely on its engine.

It depends on the number of kilometres driven, but the main way you could save is in relative fuel costs versus electricity costs. You could pay more than one-third less on electricity compared to fuel costs for the same car with the same number of kilometres travelled.

Most new EV sales include an entry level charger which simply connects to a normal electricity power outlet that you would have at home, with faster, more advanced chargers available for an optional cost – expect to pay somewhere in the vicinity of $2,000 to $3,000. These units – which cannot be packaged as part of a novated lease - charge much faster and provide other benefits in terms of monitoring and re-charging your vehicle.

Many of Australia’s most popular car brands produce EVs now, including Tesla, MG,

EVs from many of Australia’s most popular manufacturers are available. This page, from the Electric Vehicle Council of Australia, lists them all:

To discover Maxxia’s range of EVs: Click here

All industry predictions indicate that this is likely to happen – particularly given the range of new, well-optioned and range-capable models introduced to the market recently.

As technology changes and more EVs hit the market, charging times are decreasing significantly. Entry-level chargers supplied with EVs can take up to 30 hours to full charge a vehicle; this timeframe reduces to overnight with higher capacity chargers.

With recent technology advancements, most modern EVs can drive for 500 or more kilometres on a single charge. If you’re only doing short trips, you can probably go without charging for a week or more, but long trips require a full charge before setting off, and pre-planning on where to top up next. It’s worth also noting that some EVs offer extended range battery capacity options; we recommend you chat with your dealer about their availability.

With normal driving conditions, most EV batteries should be able to last up to 10 years before they need to be replaced.