Much has been said about NZ’s EV charging network with most of it being focused around vehicle owner access, public charge points and home charging, however, there’s been a quiet increase of local businesses also considering the installation of EV chargers.
So, beginning in Auckland and ending in Christchurch, we quizzed three separate NZ businesses on their motivation for installing an EV charger and the differences it has
made.
“Cameron Panelbeaters is a Long established 40+ years collision repair facility in Auckland with a great reputation, a great team and excellent rapport with both customers and suppliers,” says owner Brent Cameron.
He said that the number of EVs in the market has increased dramatically so there will be more requirement to repair them when they are involved in a collision.
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“We installed an EV charger to keep up with the times and continue to offer great service to our customers,” says Brent.
Chelsea Park Motel is a family-owned (Tomoko, Dean and their 8-year-old daughter Mia) 10-unit Motor Lodge in Nelson.
“Manaakitanga [hospitality] is what we pride ourselves on. The ground floor units all have small courtyards (fantastic for summer), while the upstairs units have balconies. We agreed sometime back to adopt the New Zealand Tourism Sustainability Commitment; the more we can offer our guests, and help our environment, the better,” says Dean.
When they bought the business, they immediately engaged the services of a Sustainability Consultant to provide ideas on how to lower their environmental impact.
“Adding EV chargers was one of the first things on the list. We are EV drivers and love having chargers available wherever we stay, so it was only natural that we would add them to our own business,” Dean explains.
Thirdly, Tussock Hill is a boutique family-owned vineyard on the Port Hills of Christchurch.
“We have a beautiful lunchtime restaurant onsite complemented by two luxurious vineyard retreat accommodation units overlooking one of our Pinot Noir vineyard
blocks,” Tussock’s GM, Melaina Targett explained.
They’ve taken the decision to offer free charging to our patrons and guests in an effort to promote zero or low-emission travel.
“The smart chargers enable us to report on usage patterns, consumption and cost as well as the potential for RFID authentication,” Melaina said.
Each of them considered a variety of factors when choosing their EV charger, but all three companies began by looking for a local, Kiwi company, with Tussock Hill also wanting to have the ability to run reports on usage as well as the potential for load management once more chargers might be required.
Chelsea Park Motel was too looking for a future-proof solution, but it also had to make economic sense and have sustainable credentials.
“Our Sustainability Consultant, Simon Drozdowski from +Energy, carefully researched smart chargers and expressed his confidence that we would have a good experience with Evnex. He also made it clear that use of the charger for guests must be free, ‘no charge to charge’, in the same way we wouldn’t charge for WiFi, or colour TV,” says Dean.
In terms of charger numbers, they range from one to two, but all three are keeping open-minded on the prospect of more, with Chelsea Park intending to install Solar PV to their facility in the future.
Offering EV chargers to customers has impacted the three businesses in a variety of ways, with Cameron Panelbeaters saying that it’s been a ‘good tool’ to ensure customers’ vehicles are fully charged upon collection; Chelsea Park guests have decided to stay purely because of the free EV charging. In that respect, the chargers have already paid for themselves.
“Our sustainability consultant also recommended that we source our electricity from a certified 100 per cent zero-carbon electricity provider, so we signed up with
Ecotricity. Now EV drivers who charge their vehicles with us can be confident that they are not burning coal or gas”.
Tussock Hill says that the charger’s immediate impact for the Cellardoor has been fairly limited, however, they have had really positive feedback from customers, with messages and photo shares and thanks on social media.
But it’s also opened a few other —maybe unexpected—doors as they are now listed on the PlugShare website and have just received a Qualmark silver rating for sustainable tourism for the Vineyard Retreats (accommodation), which took into account the use of electric vehicles privately and encouragement of guests to use the chargers.
In fact, customer feedback has been good all around, with Cameron’s receiving very positive feedback and Google reviews due to them being able to offer this extra service as part of the repair process, and Chelsea Park having very positive feedback from the EV community, and from their guests.
“They appreciate that we are early adopters in this area, and support our efforts to lower emissions,” says Dean.
All three businesses believe that offering an EV charging system is a viable asset to have and feel the network will expand.
“Surely all the clever forward-thinking business owners are hiring sustainability consultants and considering EV chargers. They would be crazy not to,” Dean says. “By being resourceful and innovative, we can come up with new ways to tackle problems such as the climate crisis. It is simply the right thing to do.”