The Herald drives EVs
The Herald drives EVs
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Hello, I am coming to you from my humble 2009 Toyota Yaris.
00:04 She's been a reliable car who's gotten me from my red P plates until now.
00:08 But if my wallet speaks for anything, she's burning through a lot of fuel
00:11 and like hundreds of thousands of cars on Australian road
00:14 contributing to emissions.
00:16 Now, the Climate Council has just told me that if we want to reach net zero
00:20 targets by 2050 as scheduled, then 100% of cars
00:24 purchased need to be zero emission by 2035 at the latest in Australia.
00:30 And this includes government cars.
00:32 Today, I'm at an event where lots of councils from around the Hunter
00:35 are going to be driving EV cars, some for the first time, to learn more about
00:39 if they might be good for their fleets.
00:41 Some of our bigger councils already have a lot of these cars on board.
00:45 Lake Macquarie, for example, has 12, but others are concerned
00:49 about the driving range and the expenses.
00:51 So we're going to go and learn about it and test drive a few as well.
00:54 I'm in an MG ZS EV.
00:56 These retail from about $42,700.
01:00 And we're going to go for a little drive.
01:02 So we've got a little drive dial here.
01:05 There's no handbrake because, you know, we're in the modern world.
01:08 Oh, the acceleration is a bit slower,
01:13 but I suppose it depends on what you're used to driving, doesn't it?
01:16 What am I doing? Turning around?
01:18 Yeah. So then for us to turn, we're once again using this little dial.
01:23 I'm not sure about this fish eye reversing camera, to be honest.
01:31 It's very odd.
01:33 I feel like you can't tell how far away you actually are.
01:35 Oh, I just realized it's got a camera like it's on all the time.
01:39 You can always see what's behind you.
01:41 You've got to stick to the actual rear view.
01:43 If you want to push the car up
01:46 on the screen, that little white, not the little white one on the right side.
01:49 Push that all the way up.
01:51 Oh, gotcha.
01:51 That is essentially drive. Now you're good to go.
01:53 OK, cool.
01:55 Now just watch your car on your left.
01:57 Yeah, how the blinkers work.
01:58 Place the lights.
01:59 Are they just those?
02:00 Yeah, cool. OK.
02:02 Is this camera on all the time when you're driving
02:04 or is it obviously just when you're kind of turning and reversing that it comes up?
02:07 So that's when you turn, you indicate and it gives you a blind spot camera.
02:10 Each time you want to see it.
02:12 Yeah. So that just helps you with your head checks each time.
02:14 What do these retail for?
02:16 They start at about $68,000 or $65,000.
02:19 They come forward. Yeah, maybe.
02:21 Oh, they're going.
02:23 That was a bit stressful.
02:27 That was very stressful.
02:28 Yeah, you don't know if these are cameras or whatever.
02:31 I'm not really using the brake at all, but if you kind of take your foot off
02:35 the accelerator, it can.
02:37 How does that actually work in terms of not kind of needing to touch the brake?
02:41 Our rear gen braking system.
02:43 So we are pretty proud of it.
02:44 And it's got two big benefits, really.
02:47 So as you remove the pedal, we've got fixed in the motors
02:50 that slows it faster and not your brakes.
02:53 So that motion alone will recharge your battery as you operate the car.
02:56 I'm going to hit a little golfer.
03:00 Remind me. Yeah.
03:01 So pull it down.
03:02 Yeah. You guys and then you get the camera.
03:04 Parking this thing.
03:09 Yeah, it might be a little tricky.
03:10 Do you want me to do it?
03:11 Like maybe. I'm joking, you can do it.
03:14 Yeah, you can.
03:16 Thanks.
03:16 Thanks.
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