The 'Electric Election': energy policies, side by side
Energy is money, and the right kind of energy can save you plenty of it, as Sarah Walker has found with her solar and EV combo. The chair of Sustainable Hawke's Bay was on hand to volunteer at the Electrify Hawke's Bay Expo recently and, as she says, the combustion-loving members of her family are currently complaining about the price of petrol, but that's not much of a concern for her as she's had an EV for eight-and-a-half years.
She says it ends up being about half the price of running a petrol equivalent and it feels like you're charging it for free when it's a sunny day.
The solar system has brought the winter power bill down considerably and they also get credits on the bill during the sunnier summer months.
The more people who go down this track, the more people follow suit as word of mouth spreads and she says it's great to see community electrification expos being put on so that those who are interested can get more information.
The installation of a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charger at the Arrowtown Community Centre has made it one of the most resilient emergency hubs in the country. The bidirectional Starcharge unit, which was fully commissioned last week, can not only charge an electric vehicle (EV) but also draw power from the batteries of compatible EVS to provide backup power for the building in the event of an emergency.
Read moreDownloadThere is growing demand from voters for long-term solutions to energy and transport costs and this year we’ve seen some rare political unity around solar in New Zealand, but there is a gaping hole when it comes to EV policy, writes Rewiring Aotearoa’s Josh Ellison.
Read moreDownloadWe always like to celebrate a lift in EV sales at Rewiring, but we’re not celebrating too hard, because new Zealand is lagging behind most other markets when it comes to adoption rates. While sales are up by around 170% on the same time last year, just 10% of new cars sold were electric in October, down slightly from previous months (at a regional level, Nelson took the prize for highest share with 25%, followed by Wellington and Tasman).
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