EVs Enhanced opens service centre

This story first appeared in the January issue of EVtalk – CLICK HERE to download the magazine FREE

An EVs Enhanced Service Centre has opened in Christchurch, with a focus on providing repairs, servicing and improvements on EVs.

Electrical engineer Walter Larason says his business EVs Enhanced has grown to the extent that a move to establishing a full service centre has been inevitable.

Officially opened on January 14, the service centre at 14 Mowbray Street in Waltham has three workshop staff in addition to Larason who will continue to assist with the more complex repairs.

 The EVs Enhanced Service Centre has grown out of a highly-specialised automotive business which has been operating out of the same premises for more than 10 years.

They will continue to occasionally work on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles belonging to existing long-term customers.
However, once that vehicle is sold their support for it will stop, as they will deal solely with EVs for any new customers.

Larason says that the staff are ready for the change too and were heavily involved in the decision making.

All are experienced in the automotive industry and have completed EV training courses – “although there’s nothing like practical experience with EVs which they have been building on for some time”.

Some staff already drive EVs themselves and Larason says he wouldn’t be surprised if all have them by the end of this year “especially as we offer free charging for them at work”.

While the service centre already has one charger, Larason says four carparks are being set up to have AC charging available for staff and customers.

Larason and EVs Enhanced are already well known in New Zealand’s EV world for their work generally on used imports, including the popular Nissan Leaf.

Larason often provides advice and expertise to other EV groups like the EV citizen science coalition Flip the Fleet and commercial operations which include most of the EV-focused used vehicle dealers in New Zealand.

In addition to the work carried out in the new service centre, he and his team will continue developing new EV-specific products and services.

He’s also talked about EV related matters, particularly around batteries, at various EV events throughout the country.

Larason won the SME-EV Champion of the Year award at the EVworld NZ expo at the ASB Showgrounds in Greenlane, Auckland, in August last year for his work in the EV field.

“We are here to develop and offer upgrades that enable existing EVs to remain useable, relevant and desirable as they age,” the company’s website says.

“By applying current technology, it is very feasible to make these vehicles significantly better, faster and with longer range.

“The intention is to extend the useable lifetime of these vehicles as much as possible, firstly for the early adopters that originally purchased these vehicles, and then for the following owners as they are ready to embrace this superior technology.

“Here at EVs Enhanced, we love electric vehicles and consider any steps towards promoting their adoption to be a worthy cause.”
The EV market is growing steadily in New Zealand, Larason says.
“It’s a developing market which I’ve enjoyed working in for several years and it’s great that the other guys here have decided to become part of it.” he says.

The business deals with EV battery repairs and upgrades, firmware updates, ECU remapping and recoding, Japanese to English conversion, diagnostics and repair in addition to EV-specific servicing.

EVs Enhanced Service Centre is open weekdays 8am-5pm.

Visit https://evsenhanced.com for more information or contact service@evsenhanced.com or 03 281 8572 for bookings.