The airport took possession of the country's first electric firetruck last year and, as head of fire service operations Tim Evans says, the impressive Rosenbauer machine has a number of different electric motors and a backup diesel engine that allows it to run for a total of ten hours.

Speed is of the essence when it comes to responding to incidents and it can do 0 - 80 km/h in 25 seconds. That might not seem fast when compared with modern EVs that can do 0 - 100 in 3 seconds, but it is much quicker than the old diesel vehicle that it replaced.

The electric version also offers other benefits in terms of operations. Having no chassis means there is much more space, which allows the team to get into their kit in the vehicle and then get out quickly; four-wheel steering means it can turn on a dime ("try and do that in a normal fire truck"); electric mirrors ensure it's safe to exit before they open the door; and the pump and roll feature means it can spray water while moving, which older firetrucks find difficult to do.

Another bonus: despite pumping out a 3,000 litres of water a minute, it is basically silent in the cab.

While Evans says there were some more conservative types in the organisation who weren't sure it was a good idea to go electric, the staff love using it and another even bigger electric firetruck is on its way soon.

"We really do like this vehicle" - which is a very common response to electric equivalents, no matter which end of the size spectrum you're at.

And, with the massive Kōwhai Park solar farm going up on the other side of the runway, those cheap local electrons will soon be powering more of their machines.

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