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FTN Motion is on a mission to create "the ultimate urban machine" and co-founder Luke Sinclair says the Hamilton-based company is doing pretty well so far, with around 300 bikes on the road after five years in business and record sales over the past few months as fuel prices spiked.
He says its electric bikes sit in a sweet spot between ebikes and motorbikes. The moped version is great for first-timers (it only requires a car license, doesn't attract RUCs and can do 50km/h) and it goes for $9,000.
That's still a premium product (which it needs to be given it's a New Zealand company) but he says battery prices have come down considerably in recent years so it's now close to parity with a fuel equivalent.
The XR model is a bit higher off the ground and can hit 90km/h so it requires a motorbike license. Off-road tyres can also take you a bit further afield.
The running costs of these machines are very low, he says, so it makes for a pretty quick pay off as a commuter. They also look very cool and, as he explains, it could even help you meet a future partner.
When Mike Casey bought his house near Cromwell, it came with gas bottles on the side of the home for water and an expensive diesel system for the underfloor heating. He replaced both of them with a Steibel Eltron system and it's been saving him money ever since. As technical manager Bhawesh Singh told him at the Electrify Queenstown conference, there has been a big influx in enquiries from homes looking to get off the molecules and onto electrons.
Read moreDownloadConfidence that cutting regulations to make solar power more accessible - won't jeopardise people's safety. A new Regulation Ministry reports laid out a potential blueprint to legalise plug-in solar and reduce the time and cost of panel installation. Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey shares his thoughts with Andrew Dickens.
The burgeoning demand for solar was also a chance to address a mismatch between the numbers of training opportunities available and young people searching for work, Casey said. "The mums of New Zealand are telling me that there's not enough apprenticeships for their kids and the solar installers of New Zealand are telling me there's not enough trained people."
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