Electric car convoy charges through city
An electric van charging up for its next trip from a wall socket and a BMW interior made from recycled materials – motoring’s electric future was rolled out in Nelson.
Leading the Charge is a nationwide road trip organised by the Better NZ Trust that aimed to promote the benefits of electric vehicle ownership.
The 12-car convoy that stopped off in Nelson’s 1903 Square in Trafalgar St yesterday also aimed to demonstrate the developing charging infrastructure.
It allows EVs to traverse the length of the country with the help of 54 fast-charge locations and an emerging network of public and private plug stations.
Leaving Bluff on April 19, vehicles with smaller battery sizes had taken an east coast route as far as Christchurch, while the longer range Teslas had driven through Central Otago and up the West Coast until paths converged at Kumara Junction.
The fleet will travel to Blenheim on Thursday before crossing the Cook Strait to attend the Motor Trade Association 100 event in Wellington at the weekend. The trip is expected to finish at Cape Reinga on May 10.
Among the cars on display were hybrid and fully-electric models from BMW, Tesla, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Audi and Nissan. The BMW i3 featured an interior made from recycled plastic bottles. Prices range from $12,000 for a new Nissan Leaf up to $136,000 for a Tesla Model X.
Better NZ Trust chairperson Kathryn Trounson said the high interest from people in Nelson had been encouraging. She was grateful for assistance from the Car Company’s Ben Brownie as well as the local EV community.
Sales of electric vehicles in NZ ticked over 3120 last month – up from the 660 purchased by June 2015.
Trounson said the uptake had been ‘‘exponential’’ and on track to meet the Government’s goal of having 64,000 EVs on the road by 2021.
‘‘In a (Nissan) Leaf you’re looking at an [energy] cost of $3 for 100 kilometres, try getting that with petrol. And there’s very little maintenance because an electric motor is about the size of a large watermelon with about 20 working parts. Compare that to an internal combustion engine which has about 2000.
‘‘If you did about 10,000km a year, you would probably save between $1000 and $1200.’’
She hoped the Government would follow Norway, where EVs are exempt from road tax, parking fees and toll payments.