Wednesday 4 July

An exciting new project will be hitting the streets of Wellington later this year, with electric vehicle (EV) chargers being installed around the capital – and Wellington City Council wants the public to have their say on where they’ll go.

The initiative, based on an international model by world-leading EV friendly cities, is a first for New Zealand. It will help drive Council’s goal of a low carbon capital city, and support the city’s contribution to reducing the impacts of climate change.

Around one in four Wellington residents can’t charge EVs at their own property as they don’t have off-street parking or due to topography, which limits the adoption of electric vehicles. So this initiative is designed to encourage the uptake of EVs, says Chief Resilience Officer Mike Mendonca.

“We are making good progress with an increase of electric vehicles on the roads, but we want to see a lot more. We are aiming to remove one of the barriers that deter people from buying these cars, by making shared chargers available for many of those who wouldn’t have access to one in their residential area.

“We had a great response in our initial engagement with the public about possible sites for the EV chargers, which contributed to these proposed locations that we are asking for feedback on,” adds Mike.

At least 25 medium-speed charge stations are proposed in residential areas. These will be located where there are high concentrations of homes lacking parking, and where hilly terrain creates gaps between homes and the road.

Each site will be able to charge two cars at once. Given limited electricity supply in residential streets, it will take several hours to recharge a car, meaning cars are likely to charge overnight or for a large stretch of a day. Compact charging stations will be placed on the footpath or in a road-side bank, close to an existing electricity street pole.

Council is running a public consultation on the 34 proposed residential locations for the electric vehicle chargers. See: Traffic Resolutions – Residential electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to have your say before 5pm Friday 13 July 2018.

Decisions around the proposed locations will be made by the Wellington City Council on August 9 2018.

ENDS

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