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'I'm a bogan and I have no problem with the bastardisation of motor vehicles. You can stick whatever motor you like into whatever else you like.' Antz Davies, you are a true boganic Bright Spark and we salute you because it's the bogans that we need to be convincing! Davies is the main brain behind Watt Rods, a Lower Hutt company that converts old cars to electric. "Any and all vehicles, old or new, four wheels or two, big or small, on road or off, fully customised to your requirements."
Just like Mike Casey's electric Hilux, the electrolux, the Mitsubishi ute in this video has had a Nissan Leaf motor added. Rather than going to the scrap yard, they can give these old timers a new lease of life.
There are some who seem opposed to EVs for ideological reasons. But for the mechanically minded, EVs are awesome. There's more torque, more acceleration, more comfort and less danger to those driving them.
He admits it isn't meant to make financial sense (buy a car that was meant to be an EV from the start if you want to save money, he says), but it does make emotional sense and there's growing interest in electric retrofits.
It would certainly help if some of the rules were changed to make it easier and cheaper for more people to do these conversions because at the moment it's largely only the keen beans who have the commitment - and the capital - to do it.
Political Power has gone local! Dr Nick Smith, mayor of Nelson and ex-National Party minister, is an early adopter when it comes to electric machines but, through his efforts with the council and his close involvement with the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme, he's also embracing one of Rewiring's core mantras: once you've electrified your own life, electrify someone else's life, too.
Read moreDownloadWhether it's the growing number of electric buses, new electric trains for the lower North Island and City Rail Link, or new electric ferries, we love seeing more electric transport options in our big cities. It's also good to see some of our smaller cities like Palmerston North, Timaru and Nelson going electric and, as is almost always the case, the drivers reckon it's better on electrons. At the Electrify Nelson expo, we spoke with one driver Lee about the city's electric buses. And he definitely wouldn't go back to diesel.
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