A convoy of electric vehicles are stopping in Tauranga today at midday as part of a country-wide road trip.
Tauranga's Bayfair Shopping Centre was the main meet up destination for the 14 cars on the road show, aimed at promoting the electric car revolution.
A silent convoy of BMW i3s, Hyundai Ioniqs, PHEV Mitsubishi Outlanders, Audi E-tron, several Teslas, a Renault Zoe and a Nissan Leaf would cruise into Bayfair to juice up at their charging station.
The Leading the Charge road trip was visiting towns and cities from Bluff to Cape Reinga.
People could come along at 12pm until 2pm to see the electric cars at work, charging up and ask questions - all part of the effort to increase knowledge and familiarity with EVs.
CEO of ChargeNet NZ Steve West said when the first road trip took place in 2015 there was one fast charging station and about 600 EVs - "now we have over 3000 EVs and we are heading towards 100 fast chargers."
Centre manager at Bayfair Steve Ellingford said "some of our customers have described our charging stations as a scene from the future, almost science fiction. But this is the future, EV's are very real and they are here to stay."