Tesla Owners Club to boycott New Plymouth events

The Tesla Owners Club of New Zealand won’t be attending New Plymouth’s Americarna and Electricarna events in February after the New Plymouth District Council rejected an application to install three Tesla superchargers and a universal EV charger in the city’s downtown.

Rob Birnie, organising the Tesla Owners Club of New Zealand attendance at Americarna and Electricarna, says the Tesla trip was cancelled purely due to the NPDC’s actions making it clear that providing even minimal facilities for EV charging was outside their appetite.

“If this NPDC decision represents the will of the people of New Plymouth, then we don’t feel particularly welcome in New Plymouth,” Birnie says.

Birnie says he made special efforts in his contact with both Americarna and Electricarna to explain that the trip cancellation had nothing to do with them or their events.

Club founder and president John Fitness explains that although Teslas are able to attend Americarna as US made vehicles, that event is primarily about celebrating American culture and vehicles from around the 1970s and 1980s.

Fitness says Tesla owners who want to attend either or both events can make up their own minds.

One such owner is the Better NZ Trust chair Kathryn Trounson who says she’ll attend Electricarna in her Tesla Model S to support the trust inspired event and “show the flag” for EVs to help encourage uptake in the Taranaki region.

Meanwhile, more information is coming out about the council’s decision, with New Plymouth mayor Neil Holdom leaving the door open for further discussion and explaining the situation.

In a statement to EVs and Beyond, Holdom says the NPDC is committed to net carbon zero 2050 and is investing in the transition of its existing vehicle fleet to low emission options including EVs, PHEVs and potentially other emerging low emissions technology.

“I’ve been driving an Outlander PHEV for more than five years and before working in council worked with Powerco and ChargeNet to develop the first charger in New Plymouth and with Drive Electric on plans to support the growth if the national EV fast charging infrastructure, a project I continue to support,” he says.

“Council will continue to pursue options to grow EV fast charging infrastructure in the region to support the transition. NPDC is open to offers that appropriately balance public interests, commercial interests and our focus on the efficient decarbonisation of our economy and if Tesla is prepared to negotiate so is council.”

While Holdom says in a Facebook post response to a query he accepts comments made about petrol at the meeting by a number of his colleagues were not ideal, he remains comfortable the decision was the right choice given the circumstances.

He says the council had to close its CBD parking building within the past year “due to an earthquake assessment of between 20-30% of modern seismic standards”.

“This cut around 15% of our central city parking overnight. The other major car parking building at Centre City has just been assessed and has come back at less than 20% of modern building code. “Centre City accommodates around 20% of CBD parking and may well be closed in the next 12 months depending on what the owner decides to do.”

Holdom explains CBD businesses are “screaming out for parking which has become a scarce commodity” and that even fast-tracking earthquake strengthening would be unlikely to see the parking building reopen for at least three years due to the current construction boom.

“Tesla’s proposition was for council to provide them four carparks at no cost, foregoing up to $20,000 in revenue a year, in perpetuity, so they could provide three of those parks exclusively to Tesla drivers and the fourth park to any EV, charging all customers on Tesla’s commercial terms.

“I don’t think there was a lot of concern about the revenue loss but there was concern about the exclusivity to Tesla cars and the optics of providing public land to a private company for commercial use linked to a specific brand of vehicle at a time when there is an acute shortage of public car parking.”

Holdom says if Tesla had offered to provide three parks to any EV and one for their clients’ exclusively “we might have made a different decision”.

“Maybe they will come back with a better proposal next time and we are always open to fair and reasonable offers that assist on our journey to net zero 2050.”

Holdom says he’s aware Tesla “has made noises about opening up their charging stations to the public, but the deal we were asked to approve provided specifically for three parks to be exclusive to Tesla vehicles with no expiry date on public land. We simply could not sign off those requirements and are open to a more balanced offer.”

Holdom says the council wants to secure further EV fast charging facilities in the district.

Birnie takes issue with some of Holdom’s comments.

“The licence to occupy as proposed would not give Tesla a right to occupy in perpetuity,” he explains.

“It would give them a right to occupy for five years, with two possible renewals of a further five years. This is very clearly documented in the proposal put to the council.”

Birnie also questions Holdom’s comments about negotiation.

“The NPDC had the opportunity to go back to Tesla with questions, and to negotiate, as part of the approval in principle option that was on the table, but instead the NPDC chose to decline the request outright. To now say they are willing to negotiate is disingenuous at best.”