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