Big boost for EVs

Round six recipients of the Government’s low emission vehicles contestable fund cover a wide range of EV related projects.

The 29 successful applicants for co-funding are:

1. Orion New Zealand and ChargeNet NZ – $318,500 towards installing three fast DC and three standard AC EV chargers at Springfield, Castle Hill and Arthur’s Pass, on SH73 between Christchurch and the West Coast.

2. ChargeNet NZ – $46,780 towards a 50kW fast charging station at the Darfield Four Square as part of the gateway to Arthur’s Pass, in partnership with the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) and Foodstuffs.

3. ChargeNet NZ – $249,000 towards installing four 920 volt, 500 amp pilot high power charging as part of a Bombay hub, able to charge four vehicles simultaneously, and deliver up to 350kW per vehicle.

4. ChargeNet NZ – $47,780 towards a 50kW DC fast charger at Kawerau New World to complete an EV route along SH30 between Whakatane and Rotorua, the partnership including Eastland Generation and Foodstuffs.

5. Counties Power – $35,690 towards a 24/7 public 50kW fast charger near a cafe in Paerata Rise, Pukekohe.

6. Counties Power – $42,500 towards a 24/7 public 50kW fast charger in Pokeno township, Auckland, at the SH1 and SH2 junction.

7. Tourism Holdings – $18,226 for a 22kW charger at the Waitomo Homestead on SH3 to cater for visitors to the venue and to the other popular area attractions.

8. KiwiRail – $65,000 towards six EV chargers on three Interislander ferries to allow tourists and travellers to charge electric cars and campervans, helping reduce congestion at charging stations at either end of the Cook Strait crossing and save time. It’s also designed to provide experience for future ferry related services.

9. Kiwi Property Holdings – $211,209 towards at least 43 charging stations across five of its leading shopping centres including Sylvia Park and LynnMall in Auckland, The Base and Centre Place in Hamilton and The Plaza Shopping Centre in Palmerston North. It will help some of the 21 million annual visitors top up their EVs while they shop.

10. Farmer Motor Group – $215,963 for a 175kW DC ultra-fast public EV charger at its premises near Tauranga Airport. The charger will be accessible 24/7, payable by credit card, providing additional payment options to EV owners.

11. Eastland Group – $97,000 towards expanding Eastland’s Pacific Coast Electric Highway fast charger network in the Tairawhiti-Gisborne region (Mahia, Tokomaru Bay and Ruatoria), installing chargers at tourist destinations and providing backup slower charging options in remote locations (Matawai and Te Araroa).

12. Holiday Parks Association of NZ – $157,000 for a double EV charger at each of its 30 holiday parks in key parts of the country. The chargers will be available to the public and to guests and service cars and electric campervans.

13. Meridian Energy – $150,000 for major expansion of public AC charging across Canterbury and Otago, installing up to 14 22kW chargers at businesses. Project results will help other regions identify similar opportunities, and provide businesses with a tested turn-key approach to investing in EV charging infrastructure.

14. Gisborne District Council – $20,000 to install a 15kW charging station for public use at its Te Puia Springs Service Centre, and three 22kW chargers at its main Gisborne office. The council will also purchase battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) at its own cost to lower fleet fuel costs, reduce emissions and evaluate BEV/PHEVs as a viable option for bringing services to isolated rural East Cape communities.

15. Dempsey Wood Civil – $229,000 towards two heavy EV (HEV) trucks in a pilot in construction/infrastructure industry, one HEV for a tipper truck and the other fitted with an attenuator for a traffic safety vehicle. A rapid charging station will be installed at the Penrose depot to support the project, and to provide public charging when not being used by the company.

16. The Warehouse Group – $257,287 towards it leasing four Class 1 electric home delivery trucks in Auckland, Christchurch, Hawke’s Bay, and Manawatu. Each truck will drive upwards of 250km daily, visiting up to 4000 customers annually.

17. KAM Transport -$150,000 to replace a 24-tonne diesel truck with an electric Isuzu in the Wellington CBD, supply chilled and frozen products to McDonald’s restaurants and chilled meats to wholesalers. The truck will have electrified dual-zone refrigeration and a tail lift and will help KAM Transport identify how and when to electrify its fleet of more than 30 trucks.

18. Blackwell Motors – $115,425 towards an electric Isuzu truck demonstrator to loan to clients to test on long runs and a public DC fast charger for e-trucks, EVs for disabled drivers and e-campervans at Blackwell’s Isuzu site in Sockburn, Christchurch.

19. Orion New Zealand – $92,950 to work with the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce to educate members about EVs and loan two Hyundai Kona EVs to interested members for a week at a time for likely business adoption and impact on their network. Two chargers will be installed, one at Orion’s site and one at the chamber’s site.

20. Sustainability Trust – $39,367 towards buying an LDV EV80 electric van and a three-phase 22kW public charging station in central Wellington. The van will transport people and materials for the trust’s social and environmental programmes in Wellington and be available for test drives at events.

21. Everybody Eats – $18,000 to buy an electric van to rescue surplus food for its Auckland City pop-up and permanent restaurants, bringing communities together over three-course, pay-as-you-feel meals. This project will help increase capacity and lower running costs and CO2 emissions on the 8000km travelled annually.

22. Asthma New Zealand – $117,499 to buy eight used EVs and install four 16 amp wall chargers for mobile nurses to use in the community in Auckland, Wellington and Rotorua. The project will help other non-Governmental and health organisations considering EVs.

23. Snap Rentals – $137,683 to replace diesel airport transfer shuttles with electric vans. A shuttle and a dedicated charger will be at each Snap Rentals depots at Auckland Airport and Christchurch Airport, transferring users between the airport and the Snap Rentals depots.

24. Mevo – $500,000 towards expanding its car share scheme currently using plug-in hybrid vehicles to fully battery electric vehicles (BEV), deploying 100 BEVs. Mevo will enhance members’ experience with an in-app EV range selector, journey planner, aggregated charging maps, airport vehicle bookings, and provide 3.6kW mobile chargers.

25. Europcar Mobility Group – $202,768 to buy 12 BEVs (along with an additional five BEVs 100% funded by Europcar), to launch its ‘Electric Day Pass’ airport-based round trip car share service at five locations.

26. Custom Fleet – $500,000 towards buying 30 EVs to offer at lease prices similar to combustion engine vehicles, making EVs accessible to businesses concerned about the capital cost, and bundling workplace and home EV charging equipment into the package for each client to address range concerns and access to chargers for clients unfamiliar with EVs.

27. Vector – $180,000 to help Waiheke Island become the world’s first fully electrified island. Vector will install and manage more than 80 EV 7.2kW smart chargers in homes across the island, along with 10 7.2kW public EV chargers and one mobile EV charger. It will enable greater network resilience, avoiding costly and disruptive investment in traditional network infrastructure.

28. SEA Electric – $50,750 towards fitting out its Otahuhu workshop in Auckland to service New Zealand clients, and to provide training on assembly and maintenance for servicing partners. Equipment will include truck lifters, compressors, racking and vehicle stands, while the facility will also be used for driver training, trade events and demonstrations.

29. Wellington Electricity Lines – $275,000 for EV Connect with its partner GreenSync, a three-stage approach to build a business model for “smart” charging technology solutions to manage peak electricity demand on its network. The stages cover grid connection technology, a corporate fleet pilot programme and a roadmap for industry consultation.