Great EV Road Trip stops in Auckland

The Auckland Great EV Road Trip was held at Smales Farm today.

Held by Leading The Charge, a project of the Better NZ Trust, the event aims to educate and inform people about electric vehicles as a sustainable transport option.

A variety of electric models were on display, including the Jaguar I-Pace, Nissan Leaf, and Hyundai Kona.

The road trip is an event held annually by Leading The Charge volunteers, who journey over 5,285km across the country to promote EVs in towns across New Zealand. It has run for the last four years.

Event goers were able to take EVs out for test rides and experience what it is like to drive and ride in an EV.

“It’s been fun – we get to meet a lot of EV owners up and down the country,” says Leading The Charge chairperson Kathryn Trounson.

Trounson says the turnout today was very good and has been good over the country.

“I have people come up to me and say, ‘I bought an EV as a result of you being here last year’ and that’s just been lovely,” says Trounson. “It makes you realise we are doing something.”

Trounson says the people at the event are seriously considering buying an EV and want to know more about them.

“I have a Land Rover, so I have to buy diesel tanks as well,” says Tony Murrell, a fossil-fuel vehicle owner. “It’s smelly, it’s dirty, and really noisy.”

“I love the idea of having no emissions, and just plugging in my car at the end of the day. It’s such a nice idea.”

Margaret Baker, a volunteer for Leading The Charge, says it costs around $5 for 100km in her Nissan Leaf. It costs Murrell $10,000 a year to run his car.

The show will stop over in Dargaville and Whangarei tomorrow, before finishing off on 26 April in Cape Reinga.

The event is sponsored by Ecotricity.

A lengthier version of this story will be available in the next issue of EVTalk. Click here to read this month’s issue.