The City of Ryde purchase two new electric vehicles

The City of Ryde, located within the Northern Suburbs of Sydney, NSW, have purchased 2 electric vehicles as part of their renewable plan.

Labor Mayor of Ryde, Jerome Laxale was pictured (above) with the two new fully electric vehicles, a Hyndai Kona EV and Ioniq EV.

Both the cars are on the cheaper side of electric vehicles, with the Ionic starting at A$53,446 and A$63,437 for the Kona SUV.

The cheaper prices typically come from using smaller batteries, which means you’ll get less range than a more expensive EV. In the case of the Ionic, there’s up to 311km range and the Kona can manage around 450km.

The City of Ryde is only 40.65 km² in size, which means multiple trips per day are possible on a single charge.

Back in May last year, The Driven reported on Ryde Council’s $370,000 investment into EVs and infrastructure. Being the first 2 cars, it seems the purchase and delivery took almost a year to execute.

Despite what’s going on in the economy right now, it doesn’t change the requirement to invest in infrastructure for the future. It’s great to see Ryde Council being proactive about installing EV charging, as the number of EVs sold in Australia continues to grow.

While many other councils around Australia opt for leaving charging up to 3rd parties, a smart council would understand there’s a long-term revenue opportunity by doing this. By 2030 a majority of vehicles being sold will be electric which means the residents and visitors of Ryde will appreciate being able to charge them.

I really hope that more council’s look at what Ryde have done here and follow suit, across Australia. If you’re thinking this is infrastructure for the rich, you’re wrong, cheaper EVs are coming and when they arrive at your price point, you’ll need somewhere to charge.

Charging at home is definitely an option, but like the proliferation and convenience of having petrol stations littered everywhere, so too will EV charging locations.

As always with EV charging, it’s a great idea to head to PlugShare and search for a compatible and available location nearby.