Recharge the soul in Coromandel
A scenic touring loop for electric vehicles has opened on the Coromandel. takes the tour.
It was a typical Auckland weekend traffic jam. Stationary, kilometres from the city, the rain beating down, a sea of red warning signs on my Waze mobile app – it was enough to sap the soul of any city-weary traveller.
But this time it was different. I was calm, chilled, with a sense of quiet satisfaction. That’s what a weekend in the Coromandel can do for the soul.
The Coromandel Peninsula, the sometime playground of the disenfranchised nearby Aucklander, has opened a ‘‘scenic touring loop’’ for the future of motoring – electric vehicles.
Fast charge stations have been added at Thames, Tairua, Whitianga, Coromandel Town and Whangamata, to complete a circuit. It’s a forwardthinking move that is hoped to be repeated up and down the country. After all, this is the future of travel we are talking about.
I was test-driving a top-of-the-line Volkswagen E-Golf to prove to some of my doubting petrol-head mates (‘‘petrol’’, how quaint) that you can safely traverse the region without, you know, running out of power.
Picking up the car from Melissa at rental firm Europcar it was hard for my partner and I not to be swept up in the enthusiasm she had for the vehicle.
She ran through the details (going up hills sees the charge drop, going down a hill with a tap on the break helps recharge) as well as where to plug in. There was also a warning – noone can hear you coming in this car, so watch out for pedestrians. And she wasn’t wrong, turning on the engine you hear ... nothing.
Melissa also wasn’t wrong about the dramatic drop in charge going up hills. Heading up the Bombay Hills outside Auckland provided the odd moment of fear as the charge dropped dramatically, but then I picked most of it back up on the other side.
Planning is vital when driving an EV because while there are charging stations dotted around the country, they can be few and far between. This model of E-Golf can go around 250 kilometres between charges so the 115km to Thames was a breeze.
The recharging point was located just behind the town’s library. There’s two different plugs depending on your model, so you could be in for a queue if someone is in front of you. For our car it took about 40 minutes to completely recharge.
So it gave us plenty of time to go exploring. The annual Santa Parade was due later in the morning and the town was buzzing. The main street was lined with market stalls selling food, crafts and all sorts of random knickknacks.
We stopped at Cafe Melbourne to grab some much-needed brekkie. Now my partner is from near the Australian city so it had plenty to live up – it did, in spades. (‘‘Melbourne without
Alan Granville
pretensions, and not a man-bun in sight,’’ he said). The spicy fried potatoes were excellent, but most importantly the coffee hit all the right notes.
After grabbing a most unhealthy but delicious doughnut from one of the stalls from Albert’s Kitchen it was back on the road with the fully charged up EV.
If you have never motored around the Coromandel you are missing out one of the most fun drives in New Zealand.
The roads wind around steep hills, houses clinging to cliffs, the Firth of Thames laps at your side, while pohutukawa trees just coming into bloom dot the stunning coastline. The E-Golf cornered masterfully, gripping the road with ease.
Next stop was Coromandel Town for lunch and another destination gearing up for a Santa Parade (busy day for Father Christmas this particular weekend). As it happened we stumbled on fellow EV users who were promoting the new loop.
The first rule of electric car club is tell everyone about electric car club (if I was vegan and into Cross Fit it would be the trifecta of things-to-boreeveryone-with). But the unbridled joy that some EV owners have is infectious. These people are proud of their cars and it is easy to see why.
Lunch was at a fairly new-kid-onthe-block Wharf Road, situated slap bang in the middle of the main drag. Specialising in homegrown goodness with a big focus on organics, we were ably looked after by boss and UK import Ellie. The dukkah-spiced haricot bean salad was simple and hugely delicious.
With all this importance on eco