Vector to help Electric Island Waiheke

Vector gets a $180,000 grant towards co-funding a range of smart chargers on Waiheke Island, assisting it to become the world’s first fully electrified island.

The grant approved by the Government’s low emission vehicles contestable fund allows Vector to install and manage at least 80 EV 7.2kW smart chargers in homes across the island, along with 10 similar public EV chargers and one mobile charger.

The funding will support the technology needed to help Waiheke’s goal, Vector product, technology and innovation general manager Cristiano Marantes says.

“Residents will be offered the ability to use smart, network-ready EV chargers as well as access public charging infrastructure for the first time, as there are no public EV chargers on Waiheke.”

Using smart EV charging technology will enhance network resilience and avoid the addition of costly and disruptive traditional network infrastructure, Marantes adds.

Waiheke receives its electricity from two 6km long marine cables.

With EV numbers on the island doubling between December 2018 and June 2019 to more than 100, and six electric buses due to arrive in 2020, this new technology will better manage the expected surges in network demand from increased EV uptake.

The new chargers will connect to Vector’s intelligent utility networking system (Distributed Energy Resource Management System), which the company has co-developed to help manage and optimise the growth in solar, battery, EVs and other distributed energy sources and network connected devices.

“This initiative will make owning or using EVs on Waiheke more viable for more people, including visitors from the mainland, and will increase the resilience of the network as adoption increases,” Auckland mayor Phil Goff says.

“Together with the new electric buses, we are working towards the vision of Waiheke becoming pollution and carbon emission free. This initiative is a great step towards that vision.”

Waiheke Local Board chair Cath Handley says the board backed advocacy group Electric Island Waiheke to lead on achieving the infrastructure the island needs for EVs.

“The results of this collaboration with Vector are breath-taking! This is such great news for our community.”

Electric Island Waiheke spokesperson and EVtalk publisher Vern Whitehead says Vector’s initiative will also be the first stage in bringing smart charging to Waiheke homes, which will defer any need to upgrade the power cables to Waiheke Island.

“It also brings closer Electric Island Waiheke’s aim of having an electric only community – possibly the first residential island in the world to do so – by 2030.”

Increasing smart chargers will allow continued strong adoption of EVs on Waiheke.

The chargers will be placed in private and public spaces with details to be determined in consultation with the Waiheke community.

The grants scheme is administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).