Australia's first affordable long-range EVs "imminent"

All Australians will soon have access to an affordable long-range electric vehicle (EV), but it won’t be the new Nissan LEAF.

Launched in Japan last October, Nissan’s second-generation LEAF was finally confirmed for Australia in February, when the company said only that it will arrive here by the end of the current Japanese financial year (March 2019).

Our latest intel is the new LEAF, which extends its driving range to a claimed 400km, won’t be available locally until October or November, but Nissan Australia is yet to confirm timing or pricing. The original Nissan LEAF was last sold at $39,990.

“We said earlier this year the new LEAF would be on sale here later this fiscal year,” he told motoring.com.au. “At this point nothing else confirmed but we’re working on a lot of things.”

It’s a similar story with Hyundai’s three-model Ioniq line-up, which includes a pure-electric EV variant that has a 280km range and is expected to cost $43,000.

The Hyundai Ioniq range had been due to launch in Australia by mid-2018, but that’s now been pushed back to September due to supply delays for the EV and, to a lesser extent, PHEV versions following strong global demand.

Instead, the first accessible long-range EV available here is now likely to be the futuristic ZOE from Nissan sister brand Renault, which is also expected to offer the battery-powered Kangoo Maxi ZE delivery van to the Australian public.

Both Renault EVs have been available since earlier this year to Australian business and government customers, who so far have purchased 18 ZOEs and four Kangoo ZEs.

Renault Australia managing director Andrew Moore told motoring.com.au the French brand is now ready to offer both ground-breaking vehicles to private buyers here.

“Our plan in the near future is to open electric vehicle sales to the public rather than just fleets,” he said.

“There is some final work underway to expand our EV dealer network to be ready for this change and we hope to make an announcement imminently.”

First Australian deliveries of the Renault ZOE took place in March, when five of the compact EVs found corporate homes in Victoria and NSW.

Barwon Water and Ausgrid have purchased one ZOE each, while Melbourne Water has bought two. The government-owned body says all passenger cars in its 364-vehicle fleet will be zero-emissions by 2023.

“ZOE has been very well received across various industries including water bodies, councils and energy companies looking to expand their fleet to electric vehicles,” said Moore.

“These progressive companies have identified the benefits of electric vehicles on their fleets including greater driver satisfaction and lower cost in use.”

Released in Europe in late 2016, the long-range Renault ZOE comes with a 41kWh lithium-ion battery pack good for a real-world range of around 300km (400km NEDC).

Recharging takes around seven hours with a 7kW fast-charger, which can add around 35km of range in an hour.

The entry-level Renault ZOE Life is priced at $42,470 plus on-road costs, while the more upmarket ZOE Intens costs $45,870 plus ORCs.

Trialled successfully with Australia Post last year, the Kangoo ZE is priced from $45,990 and has a realistic range of around 200km (270km NEDC) and a 650kg payload.

In Europe both pure-electric vehicles are best-sellers in their pure-electric segments, racking up combined sales of more than 120,000 vehicles.

The sale and servicing of both EVs is currently available to fleet customers in Australia via just two Renault outlets -- one in Melbourne and one in Sydney – but that number will expand when public sales commence.

“Currently we have two dealers. We are working on growing that network to expand it to private buyers,” Renault Australia’s Emily Fadayev recently told motoring.com.au.

The two pure-electric models will miss out on Renault’s five-year, unlimited-km warranty. Instead, both cars will come with a three-year warranty for the car and van, and a five-year warranty for the lithium-ion batteries.

Further afield, while the tiny Renault Twizy EV won’t be imported here because it doesn’t meet design rules, we understand Renault Australia could add a third battery-powered model to its EV fleet, in the form of am all-new mid-size electric SUV that’s yet to be revealed.

Apart from Renault, Nissan and Hyundai, which also plans to release an all-electric version of its Kona small SUV by the end of this year, other mainstream brands to commit to releasing affordable EVs Down Under soon include Kia and Volkswagen – both by 2020.