Electric Loop EV Festival free tickets winner drawn this weekend

The winner of four free tickets to the inaugural Electric Loop EV Festival on January 28 and 29 – a 222km Coromandel Peninsula loop drive for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) with various activities included – will be drawn this weekend.

Contact Auto Media Group general manager Deborah Baxter for the four tickets, email deborah@automediagroup.co.nz or message/phone 027 530 5016.

The entry tickets have a combined $720 value, although the winner will need to register, confirm attendance and pay for accommodation and the $60 a person Saturday night dinner.

Various BEVs are expected at the fun, enthusiast promoted car rally which includes a display of some of the latest EVs in New Zealand, special stages, optional excursions and secret stop-offs.

Entry is $180 per BEV (no plug-in hybrids or internal combustion engines allowed), the ticket price including subsidised EV charging, coffee, a goody bag, activities at all stops, and support crew (charge up batteries, EV mechanics, tyre changers, software engineers, towing and more).

“The main impetus of the event is to encourage EV uptake and infrastructure,” says co-organiser EWI Energy director Jonathan Ewing.

He’s expecting a broad range of BEVs to attend, including a Polestar 2 pace car which will lead off the drive, Audi e-trons, Teslas, Porsches, Kias, Hyundais, BMWs, MGs, Mercedes-Benz BEVs, Nissans, Jaguars, Peugeots, BYD Atto 3s, the only electric ute in the country – the LDV eT60, Minis, Volkswagens, Mazdas, and Mitsubishis.

The event is also supporting the National Heart Foundation of New Zealand, contributing to its 2023 funding round, with the top 11 BEV entrants donating $100 each to the foundation for starter grid placement.

The Electric Loop EV Festival includes an optional Saturday night dinner for $60 a head, a buffet meal at Driving Creek Railway near Coromandel, with railway rides available and a midnight EV run to Matarangi and back.

Festival side trips to Hot Water Beach and Pauanui are also included, the Sunday finishing with a prize-giving “Green Gloves Award” and a “frunk party”.

Although the festival falls during the Auckland Anniversary weekend holiday (Monday January 30 is the holiday), Ewing believes traffic won’t be a problem, especially as the next weekend is the Waitangi holiday weekend (February 6) with schools generally on holiday until then.

Ewing expects the festival to run annually.

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