Electric vehicle record set in Whangarei

The challenge is on – a New Zealand record of 62 electric vehicles in one place has been set in Whangarei.

EV owners responded to the call to get as many as possible to the Hatea Drive car park in Whangarei on April 15.

They scraped home by just three EVS over the previous record of 59 assembled at Auckland’s Museum of Transport and Technology last September.

But the Whangarei record may be short-lived.

Christchurch expects to take the record back on April 22 during the Leading the Charge EV length of New Zealand road trip organised by The Better NZ Trust from April 19 to about May 10.

The Garden City first started the friendly rivalry by assembling 37 EVs in October 2015.

About 100 could turn up this time, the trust’s James Cozens says.

Auckland might run close to the record again on May 7 when the EV tour stops at Ardmore and the University of Auckland’s North Shore campus.

Cozens was an independent checker at the Whangarei challenge.

He says no Teslas turned up there because they were all heading down to the South Island for the road trip starting tomorrow.

However, there were 44 Nissan Leafs, seven Mitsubishi PHEV Outlanders, four Nissan e-NV200-4s, three Mitsubishi I-MIEVs, a Citroen 2CV conversion and a Kia Soul, along with two electric scooters to make up 62 EVs.

Phine: Caption: Whangarei EV challenge visitors check out the sole Kia Soul.

Phine: Vid link.

For a video of the Whangarei challenge visit Facebook/LeadingTheCharge