Not just me it seems.
‘Big issue’: Caravan industry sounds EV warning as utes targeted in fuel efficiency overhaul.
The great Australian tradition of caravanning, whether taking in the Great Australian Bight along the Nullarbor Plain or through the red centre to Uluru, will be all but impossible using the current crop of
electric vehicles, industry experts warn.
“Until we have an EV able to tow comfortably for 500 to 600 kilometres without the battery dying, it isn’t the time to be taxing people who are buying utes or SUVs for towing or long-distance travel,” said Paul Maric, founder
of CarExpert.com.au.
‘Holidays taken away’
The Caravan Industry Association of Australia (CIAA), which represents around 1800 caravan parks and close to 900 manufacturers, has warned both the tourism and trade sides of the industry face significant risks under the government’s proposed new
fuel efficiency standards.
“When I look at the emission standards, there’s a three-times multiplier there to encourage electric vehicles [compared with] 1.5 for biofuels, which means the market isn’t incentivised to bring on other technologies despite the fact they would like to.”
There are around 850,000 registered caravans on the road in Australia, according to CIAA, of which 795,000 are towed.
Mr Chippindale noted that in the US, which typically mirrors Australian consumer behaviour, EV sales had plateaued and started to decline slightly amid “unknowns about battery life, refurbishment, the environmental impact on battery upkeep and maintenance”
X user
Ron Dunn, sharing a picture of caravans and utes perched on the cliffs along the Nullarbor Plain, wrote this week, “Say goodbye to the Great Australian Bight. You’ll never get to travel it, thanks to idiot-boy [Chris Bowen].”
EVs can’t tow
he stressed the bottom line was that electric vehicles currently available in Australia were simply not capable of replacing existing utes and SUVs.
Even those coming down the pipeline like the Rivian R1S, a large electric SUV capable of going off-road and towing up to 3.5 tonnes, are all plagued by the same fundamental problem — range.
“The big issue is they become incredibly inefficient when you try to tow a large load,” said Maric, who was recently in the US testing the R1S.
“Existing engines use more fuel [when towing loads] but not exponentially more. EVs are already heavy but then when you put 2.5 tonnes on the back, the battery reduces by more than 50 per cent.
Mr Chippindale agreed, noting that even a powerful EV pick-up truck like the Ford F-150 Lightning, which is not currently available in Australia, would be at a price point “out of reach for most Australians”.
“The towing capacity, despite being an EV is actually quite good, really the question becomes about range,” he said. “The Lightning, towing a 1.5-tonne trailer, its range capacity is reduced from roughly 500 kilometres to under 100 kilometres.”
Last month, CarExpert.com.au put a petrol car and an EV — the BMW 740i and the BMW i7 M70 — head-to-head, driving
900 kilometres from Melbourne to Sydney to see which was cheaper.
The result was that electric vehicle “consumed a total of 203.03kWh of energy at a total cost of $131.92”, while “the petrol vehicle on the other hand consumed 56.16 litres of fuel that cost $117.88”.
“Public charging at the moment is unreliable and very expensive,” said Maric.
Even in California, where EV uptake is around 20 per cent, the situation is not much better. “We wanted to test the charging network in California — we were in situations where I was the 10th person in the queue to charge at 11pm,” he said.
“If that’s the future we’re going to be in a lot of trouble.”
