The case for the pure electric car is gaining some momentum in New Zealand with announcements from various quarters about the installation of public charge points.
The latest push has come from Z Energy, with plans to install six rapid-charge electric vehicle charging stations at sites in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch by the end of February.
At the same time Gull has opened its first EV charging station at Greville Road, in Auckland’s North Shore area. These are in addition to other sites operated by Mighty River Power at Auckland Transport, at Silvia Park shopping centre, Auckland, and outside Mighty River’s Green HQ in Greenlane, as well as at Mercer, between Auckland and Hamilton, and in Wellington.
And Thames Coromandel District Council has announced that the Kopu Cafe has installed the first commercial EV charge point on the Coromandel, with another to be installed in Thames when a suitable site has been found.
The Z Energy rapid-charge stations are being supplied by Charge.net.nz and will be available for public use. The Tritium fast chargers draw up to 400V of electricity and can charge a standard electric vehicle in the time it takes a customer to buy and drink a cup of coffee. The ChargeNet chargers cater only for pure EVs, such as Leafs, Teslas, and Volts.
Z sustainability manager, Gerri Ward, said: “Our driver was that we wanted to be there for those who wanted to fuel up on the go – no matter what that fuel may be! And as a hybrid driver you’re less likely to get ‘stuck’ when you’re out and about than if you’re driving a pure EV, in that you can still top-up with petrol!”
The Z Energy stations are at Z Beach Rd, Z Skyway, and Z Botany in Auckland; Z Vivian and Z Petone in Wellington, and Z Moorhouse in Christchurch.
In addition, ChargeNet itself is installing at as many as 100 new sites around the country, at an average of about one every two weeks, with an anticipated completion period of four years.
A map on its website gives more details at https://charge.net.nz/charging-map.
The ChargeNet electric charging stations will cost approximately $5 - $10 for the vast majority of users (i.e. a Nissan Leaf) to fill up, and the charge time from empty will be approximately 10 - 25 minutes, as opposed to up to eight hours for a conventional slow charge. A 25 minute charge will “fill up” an entry level electric vehicle like a Leaf and allow customers to travel around 120km.
Gull joined forces with Mighty River Power as the supplier of its EV charging unit, enabling motorists to fuel-up free with ‘home-grown’ renewable electricity, a cheaper and cleaner alternative to imported fossil fuel.
Gull is also looking at provisioning a second, and more advanced, rapid charger unit at one of its new Gull sites set to open in the greater Auckland region later this year.
