The balance of power among electrified vehicles in New Zealand has shifted somewhat this year. While pure-electric cars enjoyed a boom under the Government’s Clean Car Discount scheme, the rebate’s demise and a number of other factors have now pushed consumer attention even more towards hybrid vehicles.
It’s important for us to reflect buyer preferences in real-time, so we’ve rationalised our various clean-car segments into a single Hybrid/EV class, which really represents what’s happening out there: buyers are weighing up what individual electrified cars can offer them, rather than being fixated on a single powertrain type.
So meet the three best electrified vehicles we’ve reviewed this year: one plug-in hybrid and two pure electrics.
BYD SEALION 6
BYD made its name in NZ with affordable, well-engineered pure-electric vehicles like the Atto 3. But the timing now seems equally appropriate for a (sorry) seachange in technology from the brand with the Sealion 6 SUV, which introduces a new type of hybrid system.
The $57,990-$64,990 Sealion 6 is a mainstream family SUV with some very clever hybrid stuff working underneath. It combines a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine with an 18.3kWh plug-in battery; but where the BYD is different is that it almost always runs on electric drive, with the petrol engine there mainly to generate EV power. BYD calls it Dual Motor-intelligent (DM-i) or “Super Hybrid”.
With an EV range of up to 92km, the Sealion 6 could serve as an EV commuter during the week with no stress. But it also has the long-distance ability of a conventional ICE or hybrid SUV.
The Sealion boasts all the cabin tech and quality we’ve come to expect from BYD and impressive practicality; it feels pretty luxurious for a family SUV.
TOYOTA BZ4X
It’s no secret that sales of pure-electric cars are right off the boil and more relevantly, sales of the bZ4X ($72,990-$83,990) never really heated up; dealers have apparently had a hard time convincing loyal Toyota buyers that EVs are viable.
That’s a shame, because the bZ4X is one of those electric cars that makes the transition from ICE to EV near-painless. Sure, it looks wacky – but so do other Toyotas (in a good way!). The cabin is laid out very much the same as the brand’s other models, the driving experience is seamless and the newly reconfigured range indicator (NZ never got the earlier models) is reliable, with a good safety buffer built in.
The bZ4X is one of the very best mainstream family EVs out there and while the entry-level FWD model is still extremely well-equipped and great to drive, the range also offers something that’s a rarity in this segment: the option of AWD. (With apologies to the sister Subaru Solterra.)
VOLVO EX30
The EX30 is a landmark car for Volvo: it boasts the smallest lifetime carbon footprint of any of the brand’s models, but in dual-motor form it’s also the fastest car it currently offers.
Extreme speed (0-100km/h in 3.6 seconds) is not really a surprise from an EV, but those lifecycle eco-credentials are. Electric cars are famously more resource-intensive to produce and that’s true of the EX30 too, compared to an ICE XC40; but over its useful life its carbon footprint is half that of its sister model.
So it’s a worthy choice. But we also love it as a car. It looks great, it boasts some innovative cabin features (a cabin-width soundbar instead of speakers for the audio, for example) and it’s fun to drive – even the slower-but-still-brisk RWD version.
It’s not perfect: we struggle with the ergonomics a little (most controls are in the centre infotainment screen) and the driver-assists can be intrusive, but overall the EX30 was still one of the EV highlights of our year.