EV rideshare option at new apartment block

Another Auckland apartment developer is ditching the idea of offering residents carparks.

Instead buyers of the Panmure apartments will have to rely on public transport and a potential shared electric vehicle scheme, with vehicles provided by Hyundai.

“Realistically in Auckland now $40,000 to $50,000 is what you’d be paying to own a carpark,” Rethinking Space general manager Mike Beazley told Radio New Zealand.

“A small second-hand car would be $7000-$8000 a year which would include your insurance, depreciation, paying off a car loan all those things.”

The partnership with Hyundai would provide a fleet of five shared electric vehicles for the exclusive use of the 46 apartment owners.

“They’re able to use an app that is already commercially available, it’s been developed in Wellington. So the app on their mobile phone they can literally just book out the car for half an hour or an hour to use the vehicle to go shopping, they can head across town to see some friends and [it] just gives them a viable alternative to owning their own car.”

Beazley acknowledges ditching car ownership isn’t going to work for everyone, like families with children.

“We’re targeting the commuter who is heading into town from Panmure or heading into Newmarket and can get to work easily but also can just pop in the car to go to the shop if they need to.”

If people did want to keep their own car they could still park on the street, Beazley says.