As the spectre of climate change becomes more threatening and the cost of electric vehicles comes down, more and more Australians are considering investing in electric cars. An EV promises to lighten both carbon footprints and fuel costs but, on this vast continent linked by long stretches of highway, one significant question remains: can an EV comfortably drive the kind of distances that separate our big cities?

Between the Victorian lockdowns we put our new electric Hyundai Kona to the test, driving from Melbourne via Canberra to Sydney and back, a journey of 1800 kilometres. The advertised range of the Kona is 440 kilometres, but that’s with no sudden braking, no dramatic acceleration (always tempting in an electric car) and not much airconditioning, so it’s wise to use 400 kilometres as the benchmark.

There is also the problem that the last 20 per cent of recharging
seems to take as long as the first 80 per cent. It’s a bit like how a movie theatre fills – there is a rush at first, then the latecomers straggle in to hunt for those empty seats. An American company has recently announced a quicker charging station, but it might take a while to reach our highways.

The Kona interior is exemplary, with a sophisticated dashboard of
information, warning lights and sounds when other cars or bicycles are in
your blind spots, and a mini-luggage compartment under the console for all that stuff you need close to hand when driving.

Electricity is delivered through a charger plugged into the front
passenger side of your car. You can lock the car while it’s charging and
grab a coffee at the closest cafe while you wait for it to get back to 80 per cent, which takes about 45 minutes.

The main provider of power is Chargefox, a friendly and efficient Melbourne-based company with staff who answer their 1800 number within a minute or two – an important fact to which we will return shortly. Sign up through their website. Put their app on your phone. But also ask them for RFID (radio frequency identification).

It’s a credit card with superhero powers that can activate the EV charging station when the mobile network fails. And fail it will, in corners of rural Australia. Our networks are just not that robust.

We left Melbourne without an RFID card. Here’s our travel log…