Whangarei could be the electric vehicle capital of the country after the opening of the nation's first fast-charge station in the city, Environment Minister Amy Adams says.
Ms Adams was here on Thursday to launch Whangarei as the first city in the country to roll out ultra-fast broadband and to launch Northpower's electric vehicle fast-charge station at the Alexander St substation.
She said electric vehicles (EVs) were an exciting part of the future of New Zealand and the station could see Whangarei become New Zealand's electric vehicle capital.
However, Ms Adams would not commit to the Government converting its fleet of fossil-fuelled vehicles to electric, saying there was a contract in place to supply its vehicles for several years.
She said if she was still Minister for the Environment after September's general election, it was something she would look at.
There are two standard chargers and one fast-charge machine at the station. For now the fast charger will be free. It is capable of providing an 80 per cent charge within 30 minutes. The standard chargers take up to eight hours for a full charge.
The charge station is even powered by Northland water, courtesy of Northpower's Wairua hydro-power station at Titoki, with the Chademo standard-based fast charger using local power generation to charge EV batteries.
Northpower chief executive Mark Gatland has a wider vision for EVs, saying that, at around $2 a day for up to 100km, the running costs are considerably cheaper than $8 a day for traditional motoring with diesel and petrol vehicles.
"Apart from changing tyres every 40-odd thousand kilometres, there are very minimal servicing costs. People can simply drive them to work, head home and recharge overnight on a standard three-point plug," Mr Gatland said.
Kerikeri-based Green list MP David Clendon is supporting Northpower's push to make Whangarei the EV capital of New Zealand and wants to see Top Energy, which owns the Ngawha geothermal power station, follow Northpower's lead.
"The opening of the rapid charger is a milestone in the move to a clean, green transport network but we now need more stations, especially, for example, in Wellsford and Kerikeri," Mr Clendon said.
He sees central government playing a crucial role in improving the uptake of electric cars, pointing to EVs topping new car sales in Norway.