On-street top-up trial on offer for e-bikers in Auckland
An Auckland company wants to install park-and-charge stations for electric bikes on city streets to help end riders’ anxieties about running out of electricity.
Big Street Bikers plans to set up two trial sites, in Auckland’s Ponsonby Rd cafe strip and at LynnMall shopping centre in New Lynn, next month.
The 18-month-old firm hooked up with power company Mercury last summer to set up a solar-powered e-bike station at Viaduct Harbour.
Electric bikes, although still relatively uncommon in New Zealand, have grown in popularity as a way of getting around cities.
Andrew Charlesworth and Matt Weavers of Big Street Bikers estimate at least 20,000 e-bikes have been purchased in New Zealand.
They envisage e-bikes playing an important role in cutting road congestion and hope to persuade building owners and city authorities to help set up of park-and-charge stations.
The company told the Waitemata¯ Local Board yesterday that its vision was to see 10,000 e-bikers on Auckland streets by 2020 meaning “less traffic, less pollution, less stressed citizens and more space”.
Based on a model they say is popular in Northern Europe, the parkand-charge stations offer secure parking and free electricity for the bikes of registered users who access the service through a phone app. The system can also be integrated with Auckland Transport’s Hop card.
By allowing riders to top up their batteries while out and about, the stations would alleviate their fears about having to pedal a heavy e-bike home without the help of its motor.
The pair, who are also investigating setting up stations in Christchurch and Tauranga, hope to secure some local authority funding.
Weavers said the Viaduct recharging station was going well.
“All the bikes are only charging off the solar set-up on the roof so everyone is riding on sunshine.”
He said the company was setting up another station like its one at the Viaduct. ”[It] is going to roam around Auckland over summer.”
A spokeswoman for Auckland Transport said it was co-funding a trial of the company’s e-bike charging stations.