Wellington’s first solar-powered EV charger

Sustainability Trust has partnered with ePower New Zealand and Charge Net to launch the first solar-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging station outside the trust’s EcoCentre next month.

The charging station, accompanied by two EV priority car parks, will be officially launched at the trust’s Spring Market on Saturday September 10 just before 10am.

This comes in the wake of Solarcity providing the option of solar-powered virtual and utility-scale power plant construction.

Sustainability Trust chief executive Philip Squire says, “We want to thank electric vehicle owners for their commitment to a low carbon future and encourage more people to buy an EV when they next purchase a car by adding to the network of convenient charging points across the city.”
Squire adds that the charging station draws from a power supply supported by 12 solar panels on the side of the EcoCentre, which generates about 20% of the trust’s electricity over a year.

Currently there are 23 public fast chargers in New Zealand, two of which are in Wellington, out of 100 slow chargers.

The launch has been supported by local EV enthusiasts, including Nissan Leaf owner Patrick Herd.

“The number of electric vehicles in New Zealand is growing quickly and the charging infrastructure needs to be in place if that growth is to be supported,” Herd says.

Mevo, which is launching New Zealand’s first electric car share in Wellington this Spring, will be at the launch to demonstrate how to use the charging station, with test drives on offer in an EV.

International Drive Electric Week, from September 10 to 18, will timeously support the initiative, which is required taking into account that out of New Zealands 3.7 million vehicles, only 1216 are electric.

And even though upfront costs for EV are currently high, the low running costs mean it can often be a more economical purchase at the equivalent of 30c a litre compared to petrol at $1.70 to $1.90 a litre.