Napier to Taupo to go electric

Fast chargers for electric vehicles are to be installed on the NapierTaupo Highway.

The project, by Unison Networks, is one of 15 to receive conditional funding from the Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund.

Unison chief executive Ken Sutherland said the undisclosed level of funding would be used to install two fast chargers on the Thermal Explorer Highway route between Taupo and Napier.

This is understood to be the first rural stretch of road to have chargers installed on it.

‘‘The project will mean EV [electric vehicle] drivers won’t have to worry about finding a charging station along the 140 kilometre stretch of road,’’ Sutherland said.

Two new charging stations along Napier-Taupo Rd would likely be in place by June, with another planned for Taupo this year.

‘‘The project will mean EV [electric vehicle] drivers won’t have to worry about finding a charging station along the 140 kilometre stretch of road.’’ Unison chief executive Ken Sutherland

Sutherland said Unison had been an active supporter of electric vehicles and had committed to converting 30 per cent of its corporate fleet to electric vehicles in the next three years.

‘‘Just over six months after the first Power Park was launched, collectively the chargers have had over 800 fast-charging sessions in total and delivered 7300kWh of electricity.’’

The $3.5 million Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund was established as part of a package of initiatives to help stimulate EV uptake and meet a target of 64,000 such vehicles on New Zealand’s roads by 2021.

The first funding round was heavily oversubscribed with about 80 applications.

Energy and Resources Minister Judith Collins said it provided up to 50 per cent funding for projects that would ‘‘demonstrate and showcase low-emission vehicle technologies in high-profile, visible ways that will help to normalise these technologies, and that can be implemented relatively quickly’’.

‘‘I’m delighted that we’ve managed to achieve that in such a compelling way in the first funding round.’’

As of December, there were 2278 electric vehicles registered in New Zealand; 23 were in Hawke’s Bay.