Electric vehicle chargers coming soon
Kapiti will soon be home to five electric vehicle chargers, being added to phone boxes around the district in the next few months.
The chargers will be placed in Spark phone boxes at Waikanae Beach, Raumati Beach, Paraparaumu Beach, Paekakariki and the Waikanae Park and Ride.
The first installation is likely to be at Tutere St in Waikanae Beach. All the chargers will be in the vicinity of the main shopping areas at each place.
The chargers will be free to use for the next 12 months, whether the driver is a Spark customer or not.
Spark will use a combination of different chargers in Kapiti.The power chargers will provide an energy top-up enabling electric vehicles to travel 20-40 kilometres from a 60-minute charge, depending on the car.
Spark and Kapiti Coast District Council will each fund half the installation costs.
Spark will cover operational costs for the ‘ SparkPlugs’ and council will maintain the associated carparks.
The new chargers will be similar to those rolled out north and south of Auckland last year.
Council strategy and planning manager Sarah Stevenson said council was pleased to support the public charging infrastructure development.
‘‘The initiative will help reduce carbon emissions, make it easier for EV owners to get around the Kapiti Coast and encourage those who don’t own an EV to consider purchasing one in future.’’
Spark Ventures chief executive Ed Hyde said the Auckland rollout had been successful, and he was looking forward to taking the initiative further.
‘‘Electric vehicles are the future of transport - they’re important to building a lowcarbon society and they’re increasingly affordable ... what we don’t have yet is the widespread charging infrastructure to support and reassure EV drivers.
‘‘For decades, the phone box delivered value to New Zealanders every day - they were virtually everywhere you might need one be it a shopping mall, a street corner or the last petrol station for miles.
‘‘As the SparkPlug network grows and chargers are installed in more and more of our phone boxes, this usefulness will come back in a new and exciting way.’’