Electricarna on April 22

After COVID restrictions forced cancellation of last year’s Electricarna in New Plymouth, the EV event is back on April 22 at the city’s Tasman Prospect Park, 10am-2pm.

Husband and wife team Justin and Sharmayne Smith have taken over from Stephen Hobo-Tuck as The Better NZ Trust’s EV champions and are organising Electricarna.

The new venue is on the coastal walkway next to the wind wand, so the Smiths are expecting more than 500 people to attend and have 13 EV models confirmed so far.

Sharmayne Smith says this year’s focus is on variety – with all Tesla models represented, along with the BYD Atto 3, MG ZS EV, Nissan Leaf (all models), BMW i3, Hyundai Kona, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Polestar 2, a Porsche Taycan (in electric green) and an LDV electric ute which will be towing a jetski.

Food stalls and a bouncy castle are planned too.

Click here for more Electricarna information.

Meanwhile, Justin Smith says he hopes to speak at a New Plymouth District Council meeting in March after the council’s strategy and operations committee considered a report (from P95) on February 7 whether the council should adopt an “EV charging framework” to allow more public EV fast chargers in the district (it has one at the New World supermarket).

This follows controversy around the council’s earlier stand.