RV FEATURE
WHAT’ S IT LIKE TO OWN AN EV?
As GoRV readers will know all too well, I’ ve been travelling around the country in a V8 diesel Land Cruiser towing a 23ft caravan for about seven years. I’ m not a greenie by any stretch of the imagination. But after returning home from our travels to look after our ageing parents, and going back to full-time work, the Land Cruiser, while still a great vehicle, is just not practical for the daily commute, especially with the price of diesel where it is today. It was costing us $ 350 a week in fuel alone, and that is not sustainable.
So, recently, Kylie and I did a complete 360-degree turn-around and jumped headfirst into owning an EV. In our case, a Tesla Model 3 Long Range is now our daily runabout, and the Cruiser has been relegated to towing duties and the occasional trip to Bunnings.
WHY THE MODEL 3?
First, it has a realistic range of around 700km on a battery charged to 100 per cent. Even with reduced charging to 80 per cent, it has a range of nearly 500km. It is one of the most efficient EVs on the market.
It’ s also not exactly new technology. The Model 3 has been available in Australia since 2019. It is a very mature and wellengineered vehicle.
All of this fancy metalwork looks great but it adds weight.
It’ s going to be a few years before battery-powered vehicles will be able to tow something this big over any reasonable distance. Something has to give.
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