Family takes EV road trip with Turners Subscription

The Saunders-Smeath family from Northland are amongst the first in New Zealand to use an innovative new EV service available from Turners Subscription.

The initiative, co-funded through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) administered low emission vehicles contestable fund, is a new programme designed to accelerate the EV uptake in New Zealand and has seen 10 Nissan Leaf EVs added to the subscription fleet.

And it’s one of these vehicles which the family will be driving as they undertake a series of sustainable road trips around the Far North.

“We’re huge fans of new technologies and seized the opportunity to experience an EV, as we want to dispel myths and misconceptions about the feasibility of their use,” Chris Saunders says.

“We have three young kids, so between them and their car seats plus travelling luggage we’ll have the Nissan Leaf fully loaded.  It’s going to be intriguing to plot its performance over the month and find out what the experience is like of travelling with an electric vehicle.”

During their journey, the Saunders-Smeaths will be factoring stops at recharge stations as well as visiting points of interest.

“We will need to do some planning to determine top-up points, but it’s a small price to pay in return for knowing you have zero tailpipe emissions and are helping the environment,” Saunders says.

“We want to prove to our fellow New Zealanders that EV’s really are the way of the future.

“In addition to the EV challenge we’re also promoting our business start-up Te Kaupapa, an online marketplace to discover the best deals, events and activities anywhere in the country – especially relevant during this time of increased domestic tourism due to the COVID pandemic.”

Turners Subscription general manager Jeremy Rooke says there has been significant interest in the new scheme, especially following the Government’s recent Clean Car Import Standard announcement.

“There is a real fascination with electric vehicles, now more so than ever before,” Rooke says.

“This co-funding opportunity with EECA presents a chance for people to live with an electric vehicle for themselves, without actually purchasing it outright.  It’s the ultimate ‘try before you buy’ experience.”

The Turners Subscription programme is available to motorists with a full NZ driver’s licence, with a minimum commitment of 30 days.  Users of the service pay a fee every 15 days.

“There are many advantages associated with the programme, for example insurance, service and registration costs are all covered, but an additional key consideration is the ability to swap between different vehicles during the course of each month,” Rooke says.

“This means that should you want to swap out of an EV and into a different vehicle, then you simply book the change online and the vehicle swap can be arranged, it’s as simple as that.”

The Saunders-Smeath family will be posting updates from their experience on their Instagram account and further reports will also be available during the course of the road trip.