‘Retirement party’ planned for NZ’s first EV fast charging station

New Zealand’s first EV fast charging station at Alexander Street in Whangarei – known as EV Mecca by some earlier EV adopters – will be officially “retired” after eight years on Saturday August 26, 10.30am.

Whangarei EV advocate Joseph Camuso recalls then environment minister Amy Adams cutting the ribbon to officially open the “Northpower Electronic Vehicle (EV) charge station” which included the DBT (French brand) 44kWh fast charger with people travelling from as far as Christchurch to see and use it.

The DBT was later replaced with a ChargeNet Tritium 50kWh DC fast charger.

The Alexander Street site is needed for access to a substation and ChargeNet 75kWh EV fast chargers will go to the Whangarei Pak’nSave site.

“I am not sure how you un-cut the ribbon to retire a station, but I think it is a good chance to showcase Northpower, ChargeNet and Ecotricity’s leadership in this space and to promote as a good news story that EVs have matured, and it is time to take the training wheels off the EVs,” Camuso adds. 

The EV charger could provide 80% charging in half-an-hour compared to nearer eight hours at a standard charger back then.

The Chademo standard charging station was also powered by renewable energy, using Northpower’s Wairua Hydro Power Station at Titoki.

Two other SAE J1772 standard chargers were available with up to three more planned later if required, while Northpower also had three standard EV chargers at its Mt Pleasant Road office.

All the standard chargers were generally free to use while the DC fast charger required payment.

Camuso says he and fellow EV advocate Russell Watson learned much about EVs from the Alexander Street station, including range and run-out tests, efficiency testing, harmonics testing and more.

The Kaiwaka EV fast charging station followed in 2015, and Camuso says NZ First leader Winston Peters was there to help celebrate.

Camuso expects the Alexander Street charging station’s “retirement party” will include a few words of appreciation followed by a cuppa at a local café.

ChargeNet has meanwhile gone on to establish a network of EV chargers around the country.