New measures make owning & operating electric vehicles easier.
New Zealanders are switching on to electric vehicles (EVs). The latest figures released indicate the speed with which the country has adopted low-emission vehicles, with one expert predicting EV registrations will overtake petrol cars by mid-2023 - less than a year.
Electric Kiwi, the independent power and broadband company, is helping drive this transition by making life easier for EV owners. They are partnering with three companies leading the technology behind EV transitions and offering an EV charging plan using cheaper off-peak and half-price overnight electricity tariffs.
Electric Kiwi spokesperson Simon Downes says the aim is to make the switch to EVs more practical and affordable for local motorists.
He understands there are challenges and people have concerns when thinking about buying an EV instead of a petrol-fuelled car, including cost, range anxiety and infrastructure: “So for us, it’s about making it more convenient and helping to give Kiwis confidence there are solutions being worked on that will make life easier – as well as energy plans focused on keeping costs low.
“The pieces of the EV transition puzzle exist and are emerging. It just needs to be brought together into a whole package for consumers, and that’s what we are trying to achieve.”
Electric Kiwi is supporting JOLT to offer free, fast EV chargers at urban destinations – and JOLT’s partnership with Mitre 10 will see chargers at the hardware chain’s stores across Auckland, the first at Mitre 10 in Ponsonby. Hundreds more chargers will roll out across the country, including Wellington and Christchurch, in coming months.
Downes says they are supporting JOLT “because part of the infrastructure to make majority EV-ownership happen will include free charging points.
“Destination-based charging locations mean it’s not just about finding a charging point when you’re on a road trip and wanting to recharge your car and keep going. It’s about building it into your everyday life driving around the city.
“If you drive to the supermarket, to the gym, to the local park, and you’re there for half an hour to an hour, you’ll be able to take advantage of a free charging session through JOLT, without disrupting your daily routine. It means you have enough power to complete your journey but also the convenience of recharging your battery at the destination location. It’s going to be a major point of the whole transition.”
The company is also working with ChargeNet, the nationwide EV charging network, to allow customers to pay through their regular Electric Kiwi power bills rather than each time they “fill up”.
“If you charge up with ChargeNet, rather than having to pay for those charges each time, we’ll add them to your next power bill so that all your electricity costs are in one place on one bill that you pay through your energy retailer,” Downes says.
“ChargeNet is playing a major role in providing the EV infrastructure we need to support the transition, including new hubs that can charge multiple vehicles at once. Working with them to deliver more convenient billing, we’re making life even easier for EV owners.”
The third partnership is with Evnex and is intended to make charging faster and easier at home. Evnex produces an efficient, smart home charger so EV owners can reduce charging costs and carbon footprint by optimising charging rates around the cheapest time on their electricity plan.
Downes says that feeds into Electric Kiwi’s current MoveMaster plan: “It’s so important that people think about being on the right energy product when they make the switch because, if you’re buying an EV and you’re anticipating charging it on your current standard tariff, it’s probably going to be quite expensive.
“MoveMaster has cheap off-peak pricing – and half-price overnight – so that’s obviously beneficial for your hip pocket. But it’s also about transitioning as much energy usage as you can to those off-peak periods, because if you’re using energy overnight, it’s more likely to be coming from renewable energy sources than if you were charging your car at peak times.”
Downes says that debunks frequently-posted online memes making fun of EV owners by showing the vehicle’s electricity coming from coal-generated power, and claiming that makes EV owners hypocritical.
“That’s not the case if you can charge your car at the right times – transitioning to EVs is not going to be some sort of virtue signal. The car is not petrol-powered so the emissions aspect is ruled out, plus you are likely to be using genuinely renewable energy. It is beneficial for your finances and it is beneficial for you in reducing your personal carbon footprint as well.”
Downes emphasises that Electric Kiwi is not in the business of selling EVs: “We don’t want to preach to people that ‘you must go out and buy an EV’. We know they’re expensive, there are concerns about the practicalities of owning an EV, and these are important considerations.
“What we’re saying is, ‘if you have an EV, if you’re thinking about it, if you’re on the fence, there are solutions being brought together that will give you a bit more confidence that you can go ahead and do it’. It’s not going to drastically change the way that you go about driving.
“We’re reaching milestones all the time, and that is going to keep getting better.”
More info: www.electrickiwi.co.nz/movemaster/