$3.74 million for new electric vehicles
$3.74 million for new electric
vehicles
More electric
vehicles will be hitting New Zealand’s highways, bus lanes
and streets with funding announced by Energy and Resources
Minister Megan Woods today.
Dr Woods announced $3.74
million for 20 projects under the third round of the Low
Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund, administered by the
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).
The projects will see Government funding matched or bettered by businesses.
“These exciting projects include a 58 tonne fully electric truck to be used by Coda in Hamilton to shuttle Fonterra’s dairy goods to the railway,” Dr Woods said.
“Projects like this are vital to show others in the heavy logistics and transport industry that electric trucks are not only viable but have very low running costs.”
Dr Woods said $1.7m of the funding would help fill gaps in the country’s charging infrastructure. Funding was also going towards tourism opportunities such as electric campervans.
“The projects we are funding show there’s an EV for almost every job or use in New Zealand, be it delivering fruit and veg or taking a holiday.”
Also announced was a Motor Industry Training Organisation project to develop a qualifications framework for mechanics working on electric vehicles.
The fund is one of a range of initiatives in the Government’s Electric Vehicles Programme, which has a target of doubling the numbers of electric vehicles every year to reach 64,000 by the end of 2021.
The fund offers up to 50% funding towards projects. Applicants must match or exceed the amounts granted. For this round recipients are contributing $4.30m. Projects are approved conditionally until contracts are prepared and signed.
For more information about the fund
visit
https://www.eeca.govt.nz/funding-and-support/electric-vehicles-programme/
For
general information about electric vehicles, see www.electricvehicles.govt.nz
Notes for editors:
Conditionally
approved projects - Third Round
Low Emission Vehicles
Contestable Fund
1. Qualifications
framework
The Motor Industry Training
Organisation (MITO) $95,000
The
development of a qualifications framework for EV inspection,
servicing and repair
MITO will develop a qualifications
framework for technicians working on electric vehicles.
Currently, there is no NZQA-registered qualification or
national standard for this work. Having qualified EV
technicians will help improve confidence that EVs can be
correctly serviced, maintained and repaired in New
Zealand.
2. Light
vehicles
Evincible
$263,450
EV courtesy cars for automotive
workshops
EV Consulting and Project Management Services
company, EVincible, will coordinate the rollout of a battery
electric courtesy car and associated charging station for 25
automotive workshops. This will give customers an
opportunity to test drive an EV while their car is being
repaired or serviced. The project will also enable
automotive workshops to increase familiarity and develop EV
servicing skills through training modules developed by
co-applicant AECS Limited for upskilling automotive workshop
technicians.
3. Heavy
vehicles
CODA Group
$500,000
Electric freight
shuttle
Freight optimisation company
CODA, in partnership with Zero Emission Vehicles Ltd and Bay
Dairy Ltd, will design and manufacture an electric truck to
shuttle dairy products from the Fonterra Te Rapa dairy
factory to the Fonterra Crawford Street freight hub in
Hamilton. With a laden weight of 58 tonnes the shuttle will
operate 7 days a week during peak season. Using this
electric truck will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 71
tonnes per year. It has significant demonstration potential
for the heavy logistics and transport industry.
4.
Charging/heavy vehicles
Tranzit Group
$397,500
Installation of permanent fast
charge unit
Tranzit proposes to invest in permanent
“drive through” opportunity fast charge stations for
buses at the Wellington Railway Station bus interchange.
Four buses will be able to be charged simultaneously.
Tranzit, supported by Greater Wellington Regional Council,
is introducing 10 battery electric buses to central
Wellington routes mid-2018, with a further 22 electric buses
over the following three years. This technology will enable
Tranzit to operate the electric buses on up to six
additional routes to those initially planned.
5.
Vans
Tourism Holdings
$402,000
Accelerating low emission
motorhome availability and charging
infrastructure
Tourism Holdings will convert an electric
van into a campervan, invest in charging equipment working
with holiday parks, and develop dedicated travel itineraries
with charging stations at 100km intervals. Beyond this
project they aim to have 20 electric campervans on the road
within one year.
6.
Vans
Zealandia Karori Sanctuary Trust
$118,137
Introducing fully electric
passenger mini-buses
Zealandia, a fully-fenced urban
ecosanctuary in Wellington, operates diesel fuelled visitor
shuttles between the sanctuary and the city centre on 364
days each year. Replacing the diesel buses with electric
shuttle buses will afford a highly visible showcase of the
suitability of EVs as passenger shuttles, and contribute to
Zealandia’ commitment to cut carbon emissions.
7.
Vans
Kaitake Farm
$11,693
100% Electrically Delivered
Vegetables
Kaitake Farm intends to purchase an electric
van for delivering organic vegetables in the Taranaki area,
to showcase the suitability of electric vans for such tasks
in the region whilst operating from a rural base.
8.
Light vehicles
Ecosystems Consultants
Ltd $88,583
Flip the Fleet:
Demonstrating performance and increasing visibility of EVs
to prospective purchasers
Flip the Fleet draws on data
from hundreds of EV owners from throughout New Zealand. Its
software instantly reports national data such as distances
travelled, efficiency (km/kWh) and battery ‘State of
Health’, to learn about how EVs are used in practice.
Funding will be used to make it easier for people to sign-up
and contribute data, implement improvements to the database,
automate data collection, and share the lessons learnt from
existing EV owners with prospective EV buyers.
9.
Light vehicles
Ohomairangi Trust
$75,000
Use of electric cars in
non-governmental community support services
Auckland’s
Ohomairangi Trust will buy six EVs for its teachers,
therapists and specialists to use visiting whanau. This will
showcase the suitability of EVs to the public and other
NGOs.
10. Light vehicles
Kerikeri
Village Trust $67,250
Kerikeri EV
Network for Seniors
The retirement village will buy four
EVs to establish a car share operation for use by residents
and staff and install a DC fast charging unit in Kerikeri
which the public could also use. Shared EVs make sense for
retirement village residents who typically travel short
distances and who will no longer need to own and maintain an
often underused petrol car. The project has demonstration
potential for a fast growing sector.
11.
Charging
Foodstuffs North Island
$427,937
EV fast charger installation
project
Foodstuffs North Island Ltd is a regional
cooperative that supplies the PAK'nSAVE, New World and Four
Square supermarkets in the North Island. This project aims
to ‘plug the gaps’ in the North Island fast charging
infrastructure and will see a fast charger installed at 15
supermarket locations including Kawerau, Matamata, National
Park, and Pirongia.
12.
Charging
Foodstuffs South Island
$399,575
EV fast charger installation
project
Foodstuffs South Island Ltd is a regional
cooperative that supplies the PAK'nSAVE, New World and Four
Square supermarkets, as well as other convenience store
groups in the South Island. This project aims to ‘plug the
gaps’ in the current fast charging network and will see a
fast charger installed at 14 supermarket locations,
including Hokitika, Motueka, Westport, Reefton and
Blenheim.
13. Charging
NZ Golf
$249,975
Energising sport
NZ Golf and
Chargemaster will work with 20 golf courses nationwide to
install medium speed charging stations. These will be
available to the public, not just club members. This project
will assist in increasing the coverage of charging
infrastructure in various areas.
14.
Charging
The Lines Company Limited
$215,880
An EV friendly King
Country
The electricity network company will deploy
approximately 100 cloud-connected, metered medium speed
charging units at motels and hotels throughout the King
Country. This will assist in the establishment of a publicly
accessible charging network for tourism in a region with
significant gaps in charging coverage.
15.
Charging
WEL Networks
$160,000
Expansion of charging
facilities in the Waikato region
WEL Networks will
install a 50kW DC fast charge station in Hamilton, and five
slow charging stations in association with Progressive
Enterprises (Countdown supermarkets) in the Waikato
region.
16. Charging
South
Taranaki District Council
$96,000
Empowering Taranaki -
Installation of three fast chargers along SH3 and SH45 for
regional and interregional EV access
The South Taranaki
District Council, partnering with Stratford District Council
and ChargeNet, will install DC fast charging stations in
Stratford, Opunake and Waverly, creating a network of
charging infrastructure around Mt Taranaki. This will fill
key gaps on the secondary road network in that area.
17.
Charging
Fisher and Paykel
Healthcare $72,500
EV Transition for
staff
The company will install 74 EV slow chargers and
two medium speed DC chargers to encourage staff to purchase
EVs. Overseas evidence shows that employees who can charge
at work are significantly more likely to buy an EV. The DC
chargers will also be available to visitors. The proposed
large scale installation of charging units will show other
New Zealand companies what initiatives are possible to
encourage EV uptake.
18. Charging
Wilson Parking NZ $60,622
Utilising
parking to enable EV networks in New Zealand
Wilson
Parking will install 34 slow charging stations capable of
charging 46 EVs at Wilson owned and operated sites to
support mainstream uptake of EVs in New Zealand. The
majority of sites will be in Auckland, with a smaller number
installed in Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and
Dunedin.
19. Charging
Counties Power
Limited $30,000
EV Fast
Charging
Counties Power will install a 50kW DC fast
charge station in Waiuku, an area of high growth potential
southwest of Auckland, and a current gap in charging station
coverage.
20. Charging
Cloudy Bay
Vineyards $10,000
Provision of a four
station EV charging infrastructure at Cloudy Bay
Vineyards
Cloudy Bay Vineyards intends to install four
slow EV charging stations at its vineyard in Blenheim,
providing visibility of EV technology to over 30,000
visitors per year. The charging facility will be available
to the public.