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Mahurangi couple Steve West (far left) and Dee West (far right) celebrate their EECA award for fast charging electric vehicle stations.
Mahurangi couple Steve and Dee West have received an EECA award for their fast charging stations for electric vehicles.
EECA is a Government agency that works to improve energy efficiency. The award recognises the company’s efforts to increase the number of charging stations available. They have built one at Kaiwaka and others at Warkworth and Orewa are due to be completed this year.
“We are over the moon with the award,” Dee says. “We’ve only been going for 16 months and to be recognised for what we are doing at this early stage is fantastic.”
The recognition comes as international research has shown the biggest drawback for owning an electric vehicle is limited range. The couple hopes that installing fast chargers nationwide will increase electric vehicle ownership.
“Electric cars are coming down in price and we have more choice, but the range is around 120 kilometres. That’s more than sufficient for 99 per cent of New Zealand drivers, but people are still reluctant because of the occasional road trip. That’s where charging stations come in.”
The stations take between 10 to 25 minutes to charge an electric vehicle, as opposed to around six hours home charging. With New Zealand’s power coming from 80 per cent renewable energy, the couple hopes to encourage more people to switch to electric.
