Electric Island Waiheke EV test
At the Electric Island Waiheke launch last year are establishment board members Darleen Tana and Vern Whitehead with Norwegian EV Association leader Christina Bu.
Waiheke Island is rapidly becoming the Nissan Leaf capital of the world.
Only eight months ago there were 37 full electric vehicles registered on the island. Now the “official” EV population has more than doubled to 76 – at least 69 of them being Nissan Leafs.
With 4851 passenger cars and vans on the island, electric Nissan Leafs have a 1.42% penetration rate – and the number continues to grow rapidly.
And now another 60 to 70 Waiheke residents have signed up to trial a Leaf for a few days, under the auspices of Electric Island Waiheke, through the generosity of city dealership Genuine Vehicle Imports (GVI) Group which has made available four vehicles to the island for a number of months.
EVtalk magazine publisher Vern Whitehead, also a Waiheke resident, says the number of EVs on the island is drastically understated by the NZ Transport Agency figures.
“An informal count of EV rego numbers on Waiheke is already up to 87 vehicles in a couple of weeks and this is by no means all of them,” he says.
“Our own Nissan Leaf, for instance, is registered off-island as part of our company fleet. It is thought that the true number of EVs based on Waiheke is well over 100.”
Electric Island Waiheke expects the ‘official’ number of Leafs to surge past 100 by the end of the year, and also past 2% of all the vehicles on the island.
In addition to the Leafs, Waiheke is home to at least three Nissan e-NV200 tradies’ vans, plus a Kia Niro, Mitsubishi iMiev, Renault Zoe, and two Teslas – a Model X and S.
Some Nissan Leafs are priced as low as $10,000 and buyers quickly recoup this outlay in a handful of years as they never have to visit a petrol station again – only going to the garage to get an annual warrant of fitness and perhaps new wiper blades or tyres.
Vehicle maintenance is also almost non-existent as EVs have only 20 or so moving parts, compared with an internal combustion engine-powered vehicle’s more than 1000.
At the same time EV owners are helping reduce emissions affecting the health of our children and the planet.
Electric Island Waiheke is advocating for all vehicles, plant and equipment to be electric by 2030.
GVI is providing two Nissan Leafs and two Nissan e-NV200 vans – one a seven-seat shuttle.
Join the conversation