If You Build It, They Will Come
If You Build It, They Will Come
Steve West and Nick Smith from Charge.net.nz spent the past weekend unpacking the first of 23 Electric Vehicle fast charging stations to be installed this year.
The sleek, stylish stations might look to some like something out of a science fiction movie. The Charge.net.nz team is keen to assure everyone that a cleaner, quieter, and better future for transport in New Zealand is fast becoming an accessible reality. A network of fast charging stations throughout the country is an integral part of making EV uptake a viable reality.
“One of the biggest challenges to the uptake of Electric Vehicles in New Zealand is something called range anxiety.” says Steve West, founder and Managing Director of Charge.net.nz. “Many people are intrigued by the idea of driving EVs as they become more affordable and the technology improves, but are worried about being caught short while they are on the go. These charging stations can charge an entry level EV like a Nissan Leaf in just 25 minutes.”
Mr. West and his team hope that other public and private entities also join the revolution and install charging stations. To make this as easy as possible, they have created a software platform to enable 3rd party stations to be seamlessly integrated into the charging network.
Charging stations are activated using either an RFID tag or a smartphone App. For a fraction of the cost of traditional fuels, EV owners will soon be able to travel freely all over New Zealand in their beloved zero emission cars.
Charge.net.nz plan to have their first DC rapid charging station deployed by the end of the month.
- Charge.net.nz plans to install 23 fast
charging stations from Tritium Systems Ltd by the end of
2015.
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- Tritium is a Brisbane based
electrical engineering firm specialising in the design and
manufacturing of rapid charging stations for global EV
charging networks.
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- Every EV comes with an
onboard charger, but these typically take 4-6 hours to
charge.
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- A rapid charging station will
charge an entry level EV such as a Nissan Leaf in 25
minutes.
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- Each charging station is
compatible with both CHAdeMO and CCS charging
standards.
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- CHAdeMO is the Japanese fast
charging standard, CCS is a new American charging
standard.
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- New Zealand is the perfect
economic, geographic and general environment for the uptake
of EV technology as 80% of electricity is generated through
renewable means.
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- Mass adoption of EVs in
our light fleet could move New Zealand toward energy
independence, and reduce our CO2 emissions by 5 million
tonnes
annually.
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ENDS