Championing the EV cause

This story first appeared in the january issue of evtalk CLICK HERE to download the magazine FREE

An early EV adopter, Sue Pugmire has done her best to promote them – even passing down her old EVs to other family members.

She’s been nominated for an EV Champion award, along with her hometown Palmerston North where she has considerable influence in EV matters such as running Manawatu EV Owners’ Facebook group, organising a fast charger in the Square and organising all the local EV events.

It all started when she read about a Toyota Prius hybrid in a 2004 airline inflight magazine.

She and husband Ralph bought one – halving their petrol bill.

Then in 2012 they heard Chris Hawkins of Blenheim was importing 2011 Nissan Leafs from Japan

“Ralph – a whizz at electronics, computing, engineering and building – had been toying with building an EV using an old Fiat 500, but one designed from scratch was a dream,” Pugmire says.

New Leafs at that time cost about $70,000, so a second-hand one for $26,000 was still a huge stretch but worth it, she says.

They flew to Auckland to drive it home, even though no public chargers existed in 2012.

“We slow-charged on ordinary three-pin plugs – at cafes, takeaway shops, friends places, and booked a ‘room and a recharge’ at a motel.
It took us four days to make that first trip home from Auckland to Palmerston North.”

In doing so, the Pugmires were probably the first people in New Zealand to do a long-distance trip in a Leaf.

As a result, they were interviewed by Rob McEwen from the Association for the Promotion of Electric Vehicles (APEV) in Taupo (he’s now EVolocity executive director).

“We felt like intrepid hot-air balloonists or something.

It was all a great adventure, and we were the first EV most people had ever seen,” Sue Pugmire adds.

Their next trip from Palmerston North to Auckland took three days as Ralph had made a caravan plug evse which could charge a little faster.

As result of the proliferation of fast chargers, their latest trip in the Leaf could be done in one day.

The Pugmires are all about sustainability and have been living off the grid for the past 20 years, making their own power and charging their EV on sunshine and wind.

Ralph also set up EV charging at their home and workshop.

“People with EVs would come and charge at our place (they still do), especially Renault Zoe owners as they didn’t have other charging options at that time,” Sue recalls.

She was asked to organise the first Leading the Charge EV tour seven years ago, and other events for Drive Electric Week.

“I’ve done that every year since then, as well as lobbying the council for a fast charger site and getting involved with other EV issues.”

Sue started the EV Owners Manawatu Facebook page and found friends and family beginning to follow their example, buying Leafs.

“Our daughter was the second person to buy a Leaf in Manawatu, and several of our neighbours and friends followed suit.
Other friends on Facebook also started to ask questions about EVs and follow our lead.”

The Pugmires say they’ve had fun being part of a growing local and national EV community and have made some great friends along the way.

“We have also done some quite extreme EV driving,” Sue says, providing a photo of their snow-covered Leaf charging in Ohakune.

They’ve loved driving their Leaf for the past seven years and have driven it everywhere, even using it as a farm vehicle.

They’ve replaced only one set of tyres on it in that time.

“It’s been our only transport – apart from our bikes and tandem.

“We have kept the Leaf in the family, and one of our daughters is now using it. Another daughter has our old Prius, and our eldest daughter has another Leaf and an e-NV200 van for her family.”

The Pugmires put a deposit on a Tesla Model 3 in April 2016 and got it in September 2019.

“We love it!”

Sue says the Model 3’s updates bring them closer to full self-drive and add exciting new options.

She’s keen to promote Palmerston North as a clean, green, sustainable and pro-active city.

“I believe we are perfectly placed to lead in cycling, wind technology, green corridors, “source to sea” river and biodiversity projects, and more.

“I have spent years talking to the mayor, councillors, council staff and Powerco about Palmerston North’s EV, cycling and sustainability needs and solutions.

“I organised the Palmerston North fast charger and have run seven years’ worth of EV events.

“My current project on the EV front, is trying to get much needed type 2, three-phase and destination chargers installed around the city.”

Taking people for EV rides and drives, answering questions about EVs, has been a regular activity, along with providing submissions around sustainability, organising and playing music at events.

Sue is an accomplished musician, playing since she was five, and continues to perform with others across a range of styles from the 1920s to the present.

A music lecturer for a time at the Massey University College of Education, she taught English as a second language and education at Massey before retiring from that role.

She also stood for the council in three elections and is active on social media, sharing information on EVs and sustainability, climate change and other issues.

“I have a belief in the importance of local communities, economically, socially, and in terms of disaster resilience, but I’m also keen to promote these things country-wide, and world-wide.

“I believe every house should be designed for passive heating and cooling, have pv solar, grey and freshwater tanks, and plugs for EV charging.

“Ideally they should have batteries (or an old Leaf) for energy resilience in an emergency as well.”

She says EVs are an important part of the fight against pollution, and also climate change.

“Since driving an EV, enjoying the comfort, quiet, speed, safety, and savings, I am amazed everyone hasn’t got one already.

They are such superior cars and they are helping to save the planet!”