STEVE AND DEE WEST ARE OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTORS AT EV WORLD NZ 2018

Two of the founders of the Better NZ Trust, Steve and Dee West, were recognised at EV World 2018 for the outstanding work they have put into the EV space in New Zealand.

Driving Collaboration and Overcoming the Barriers for EV Adoption

Panel Members: David Vincent, Ken Shirley, Gavin Young, Oz Jabur, Steve West

One of the most relevant topics for the Better NZ Trust’s #LeadingTheCharge campaign at the EV World conference was the Leaders Panel: Driving Collaboration and Overcoming the Barriers for EV Adoption.

Because if there are legitimate, insurmountable obstacles preventing people from purchasing electric vehicles, then the work the Better NZ Trust carries out, would be as frustrating and futile as taking a child window shopping in a candy store.

The first step in overcoming barriers in EV Adoption is to identify them. And the first speaker in this session was David Vincent who has been doing just that in his role on the government initiated EV Leadership Group. The group is an amalgam of government departments and the industry sector. An initial mandate instilled by former Minister of Transport, Simon Bridges, and reinforced by the Associate Minister of Transport, Julie Anne Genter, was ‘to identify the impediments for the uptake of EVs and make recommendations as to how to get over them.’

Read the full transcripts from the panel discussion below.

To summarise, the main barrier to EV Adoption is in the heavy fleet area, with lithium-ion batteries being impractical for high payload vehicles like tractors. Although stop/start vehicles like rubbish trucks and buses or long-haul semi-trucks are slowly and successfully being introduced. 

The second major issue is the high initial purchase price. Used imports are driving uptake and stocks are unlikely to dwindle in the near future, but will eventually be joined by ex-fleet vehicles, buoying the second-hand market.

Other issues that are often touted as prime barriers, such as lack of off-street parking or multi-dwelling buildings will not be a problem with technology already available to overcome these issues or tech that will be available by the time mass adoption occurs. 

In the past year, customer EV-IQ has increased with intelligent questions being asked and industry representatives report that their own response to these questions has improved with ongoing training. A recent survey of Mercury customers around the country indicates that nearly 50% of people are seriously considering an EV for their next vehicle purchase.

Tesla plans to open-source its vehicle security software for free to other automakers for safer self-driving future

A leading New Zealand electricity generator and retailer, Contact Energy, is well on track to electrifying its fleet, with the charge being led by the organisation’s geothermal operations near Taupo.

“We have nine EVs at the moment,” fleet manager Chris Girling says.

These comprise four Mitsubishi Outlander PHEVs, three Renault Zoes, a Hyundai Ioniq and a Gen 1 Nissan Leaf.

Read the 6th part of our series "Busting EV Myths" by clicking this link here

Topics Covered:

Myth: Batteries Have Short Life Spans

Myth: Batteries Can Not Be Recycled

Myth: Lithium is Rare

Professor John Goodenough, celebrated his 95th birthday last year An immigrant to the United States, a World War II veteran, a graduate from Yale University, a physics doctorate from the University of Chicago, a research scientist at MIT, a tenured departmental head at Oxford University, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, an emeritus professor at the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas, Austin, a multi-award recipient, and a multi-society active and honorary member, has been involved in lithium batteries since at least 1980 when he was 57-years of age. Now, at the tender age of 96-years old he continues to develop the field.

Battery Breakthrough

A low-cost, safe, high-energy-density, long-life, and low-degradation battery has been designed in a paper co-authored by John Goodenough, Maria Helena Braga, Chandrasekar M Subramaniya, Andrew J. Murchison (all four from the Texas Materials Institute and the Materials Science and Engineering Program at The University of Texas at Austin) and Maria Helena Braga (from LAETA, Engineering Physics Department, FEUP, at the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.)

It overcomes every single problem of current battery technology. In my (Eric Cosak) opinion, this happens as a result of overcoming both the lithium-ion SEI (solid electrolyte interphase) battery problem and material degradation due to volume expansion.

[Eric Cosak - EV Obsession - 23 July 2018]

Read Full Article

Part 5 - view hi-res image here

EVworld organiser Conferenz has announced the finalists for its ‘champions’ awards – set to be revealed at the August event.

The awards recognise the pioneering individuals, businesses and towns who are committed to championing the uptake of EVs in New Zealand.

[Richard Edwards - EV Talk - 18 July 2018]

We know electric cars make sense – but we need a financial push to buy one

From tax incentives to cash grants, ‘price signals’ are the key to increasing the uptake of electric vehicles in New Zealand, writes Victoria University’s Lisa Marriott. ...

"If we are genuinely committed to meeting our carbon targets, words need to be supported by action. Weak policy tools will not achieve strong behavioural change. The road transport sector is one where global experience shows that significant beneficial results are achievable when the tax system is used to influence the price of vehicles. What are we waiting for?"

[Lisa Marriott - The Spinoff - 16 July 2018]

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June's EV figures are currently being released around the world and as we're at the half-way mark of 2018, it's a good time to check on EV Growth progress.  

[Data supplied by Ministry of Transport NZ and EV Sales. photo  BAIC EC series flooding China's streets, courtesy of EV Sales]

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Network Tasman’s three public fast-charging stations in Nelson, Richmond and Golden Bay will become part of a linked national network of more than 100 fast chargers throughout New Zealand. 

The ChargeNet NZ phone app and website will display the availability of chargers and locations, allowing users to plan their route and to see the state of their vehicle charge in progress. 

EV owners will be able to pop away while their vehicles are charging and be notified by text when the charging session is finished, or if there is an interruption in the charging session. 

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Rotary Hamilton were treated to a presentation on Electric Vehicles at their weekly meeting last Monday. Local EV Champion, Justin Boyd, organised the event which was held at Sky City Hamilton. He kindly invited our very own Chairperson, Kathryn Trounson, to attend. And Kathryn brought along not only her Tesla Model S to put on display, but yours truly as well. Although the latter was not on display.

[Rachelle Tilsley - Better NZ Trust - 8 Jul 2018]

Residents in a handful of Wellington's  inner-most suburbs have proved to be the most vocal in pushing for electric vehicle charging stations in their streets.

Over the past few months, more than 80 submissions have been received by the Wellington City Council in relation to its new EV initiative, set to be rolled out over the next several months.

[Ruby MacAndrew - Stuff Motoring - 2 July 2018]

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In a move that would make fellow Croatian Nikola Tesla proud, Rimac Automobili has stunned the automotive world at Geneva.

Of the six most important cars of 2018, the Rimac C Two (BEV) 2-door coupé, has just been voted the Most Important Car of 2018 by Top Speed, the veteran online reviewer of super-powerful and/or luxurious automotive technology. 

The Rimac C Two is at sort of a Eureka point of this year so far. The Croatians did the unfathomable and revealed a car that can rewrite the whole premise of a supercar, or a hypercar, whatever. 

Beating back the other five finalists from: Volvo, Mercedes, Aston Marton, BMW and Peugeot, the second offering from Croatian Rimac is officially the fastest Super Car in the world.

It will accelerate to 60 mph in 1.85 seconds, it will do 186 mph in 11.8 seconds, and at the top end, the speedo will say 256 mph. Plus an alleged range of 400 miles (643 km) and weight of 4,200 lbs. So impressive are these figures, that Porsche AG has invested in Rimac Automobili. All this with a move towards "manganese nickel" chemistry in its li-ion batteries makes the Rimac a deserving winner of the title "Most Important".

Presently keeping the name "Concept", the car is in fact a production model. Although deliveries won't start until 2020, the car is available for pre-sales. After showing it at the Geneva Motor Show, all 150 cars were sold within three weeks. With a starting price is $2.1 million, on average, buyers added $615,300 of options. Mad.

Read full article

[Safet Satara - Top Speed - July 1, 2018]

Since 1916, cars of all types and more recently motorcycles have been competing in this gruelling uphill race.

With an official time of 7:57.148, VW’s fully electric racer beat the previous EV record of 8:57.118 set in 2016, as well as the overall course record of 8:13.878 set in 2013.*

Overall winners can compete under any class of cars or motorcycles, although the majority come from the open wheel and more recently the unlimited classes. 

* Two previous faster times were on a shortened course.

Read Article Here

[Charles Morris - 2 July 2018 - Charged EVs Magazine, Newswire]

Even the iconic London Bus is about to go electric with 68 electric buses being added to the fleet.

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[Charles Morris - 3 July 2018 - ChargedEVs, Newswire]

Meanwhile, in Wellington, the launch of their first electric buses will be happening by July 5th.

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[Geoff Dobson - 4 July 2018 - EV Talk]

Click to view infographic

Part 3: 

Myth "EVs Don't Go Far"

Myth: "It Takes Hours to Charge"

Myth: "There's No Infrastructure"

WEL Networks has taken its tally of electric vehicle (EV) fast chargers in the Waikato to six, with the latest going live at Hampton Downs this week.

The new EV fast charger is the first of its kind at the popular motorsport complex and is located in the Gate 1 carpark.

“There has been a great level of interest from our manufacture-based clients who increasingly want to show off the latest technology in their products. It will not only allow them to demonstrate the EV technology in the normal context of road driving, but also show off the performance levels of the technology by making use of the tracks here at Hampton Downs," says Hampton Downs Track Manager, Elton Goonan.

WEL Networks has previously installed fast chargers at Maui Street, Caro Street and Waikato Innovation Park in Hamilton, as well as on Wayside Road in Te Kauwhata and Bow Street in Raglan.

[WEL Networks - 28 June 2018]

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Auckland Transport and leading electric vehicle charging provider, ChargeNet NZ, have formed a strategic partnership to install the first 27 of a network of 60 conveniently located free standard electric vehicle charging stations around Auckland.

[Shawn Moody - ChargeNet NZ - 27 Jun 2018]

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One in four Wellington residents have no garage so must park on the street

The Wellington Council says one in four Wellington residents have no garage so must park on the street — that’s a significant hurdle to Wellington EV ownership. 

There are currently over a thousand EVs registered in the capital city and this number is growing fast. These EVs are going to need somewhere to charge and ChargeNet NZ wants to make street charging accessible to those who can't charge at home.

"If you’re an EV owner in Wellington (or would like to own one soon) we’d love you to take a couple minutes before July 13 to make an online submission to the Wellington City Council and show support for the installation of a network of convenient on-street chargers for residents," says Shawn Moodie of solPR.

"It’s all part of the plan by us and the Council, with support from EECA, to turn our capital city into a low carbon city with cleaner air and a healthier and more enjoyable environment. There’s a lot to love about EVs. They’re cheaper to run (only 15% of the cost of running an equivalent sized petrol vehicle), good for the environment, and fun to drive but without proper charging infrastructure in place Wellington is going to fall behind the rest of the country. ..."

[Shawn Moodie - ChargeNet NZ - 26 June 2018]

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