Evnex founder Ed Harvey electrified a car for his final year of an electronics engineering degree at the University of Canterbury and, after graduating, he spent a few years working for a company that specialised in electric wheelchairs. He had been hunting for a more sophisticated and affordable charging solution for his own EV so in 2013 he started tinkering with some open source designs and Evnex was born a year later.

Since then, as Evnex's Tony Davis says, they've sold almost 10,000 chargers in New Zealand and Australia and its E2 model has gone from zero to almost 6,000 sales in just over two years.

While the EV sales growth rate has slowed in New Zealand after the removal of the Clean Car Discount, the trend over time is clear and EV sales are still on the up around the world. EVs are also very close to reaching price parity with fossil fuel cars and the lifetime running costs of EVs are significantly lower. Customers with rooftop solar - the cheapest form of electricity available to New Zealand households - can save even more.

For customers with solar, Evnex has developed a way to divert the electricity into the car as opposed to selling the excess back to the grid for a lower rate than you pay for it.

“People love it because if you are judicious about charging, you can have 90 percent plus of your driving come from your own solar,” Harvey told Kia Ora magazine.

While fast chargers are essential for longer trips with EVs and have helped reduce ‘range anxiety’, most trips are short and the average distance New Zealanders drive each week is around 200km. More than 80% of electric vehicle charging happens at home, and that’s where the ‘smart’ in smart charging comes in, with systems that can be automated to only charge during times of cheap, low-emissions electricity or reimburse employees for charging a company EV at home.

A range of businesses are now looking at upgrading their fleets to EVs because the economic benefits are clear but the charging infrastructure is a crucial part of that. Evnex is also the preferred charging partner of a number of established automotive brands.

The company is also experimenting with bidirectional charging, which is one of the most exciting developments in this space and will soon open up the field of vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid.

• If you have a suggestion for an upcoming Bright Spark - someone who has electrified their own life or is running a business that's helping to speed up the transition - get in touch.

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