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It's ANZAC Day and we're showcasing the good kind of arms race as CATL one-ups BYD with its speedy new battery charging technology, big new storage systems take off in Aus, and prices continue to drop; why workplace EV charging is a good option for businesses and the grid; solar becomes transportable with an Austrian company's fold out container solution; an indepth look at Christchurch Airport's new electric firetruck; and solar enthusiasts take it a bit too far.
Store bought
Solar and batteries are exhibiting Moore’s Law level improvements in efficiency and cost reduction and many of the advances are coming out of China. There’s something of an arms race developing with batteries between two big players, BYD and CATL - and that’s good news for fans of electrification.
BYD just announced a big development in terms of charging speed and, as CNN reported, CATL has upped the ante with a new battery that can be charged to travel over 500km in just five minutes. On the road, this would reduce the charging gridlock that sometimes has to be endured and it's a gamechanger for larger machines that need to keep running for long periods.
CATL also announced a sodium-ion battery, which would go into production at the end of the year and would provide over 500km of range from a material that's widely available.
At the end of last year, CATL’s batteries were used in one out of every three EVs worldwide, powering about 17 million vehicles. But they’re not just for cars. There is an increasing amount of investment in large batteries, and the ABC says that hundreds of millions of dollars are being committed to dozens of battery projects in Australia aimed at capturing renewable energy that can be used when wind and solar power is not being generated.
Fortunately, battery prices are also dropping rapidly, making EVs and static storage much more affordable.
Line charge
You can’t make petrol at work. But you can make electricity and Electra, which owns and operates the electricity lines and assets in the Kāpiti and Horowhenua districts. has just installed four new Evnex 22kW EV chargers at its Paraparaumu location.
Because plenty of vehicles are at one place for a long time and they're cheaper to run and maintain, slower chargers at workplaces make sense and as they're generally used outside of peak times, the grid can handle plenty more workplace charging.
“This part of our plan to integrate more EVs into our fleet and commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As the size of our fleet is increasing, the distance travelled grows as does the need for more and faster charging facilities, so we have doubled the number of chargers and gone from 7kW units to 22kW to support our plans to transition and further decarbonise our fleet.”
You gotta know when to fold ‘em
One of the big benefits of fossil fuels is transportability. Solar is great if you’re not going anywhere, but what if you could take your solar with you? An Austrian start-up called SolarContainer has developed a system where 240 solar panels unfold from a container.
The panels can be easily unfolded using a rail system, are up to 120m long "and can be used for both on- and off-grid purposes, including rescue missions and gatherings.”
“Once the user pulls out the foldable photovoltaic panels from the mobile solar container, powering up equipment and properties with green energy follows suit, and this can be done almost anywhere as long as the land is big enough to accommodate the series of panels.”
Siren call
We covered the arrival of Christchurch’s new electric firetruck a while back, and Gavin Shoebridge has headed south to find out more about it
As well as the reduced running costs, it’s actually a lot more usable than the diesel versions, he says.
Solar for the soul
While marketers call electricity a ‘low-interest category’ because so many people take it for granted, those who get solar installed often become very interested in their energy consumption.
Like any passion, the enthusiasts can be a bit overzealous and try to convince all who will listen that they should follow suit, but we applaud his commitment to sharing the love.
And we applaud the solar industry’s commitment over the years in the face of aggressive competition from the fossil fuel industry, as the below documentary shows.
In the last Electric Avenue of 2025, we look at the two biggest trends in the world of energy; the Government goes electric for its fancy fleet upgrade; Nick Offerman offers his services to a US campaign extolling the virtues of EVs; Australia shows what's possible in new homes when you add solar, batteries and smart tech; a start-up selling portable solar and battery systems that wants it to be as easy and common as wi-fi; and The Lines Company looks to put some solar on the roof of the Ōtorohanga Kiwi House.
Read moreDownloadWhen it comes to electric farming, "the numbers are becoming undeniable," says Nicholson Poultry's Jeff Collings. With 60kW of solar, a Nissan Leaf as a 'farm quad', electric mowers, an electric ute that can run a water blaster, and even a chicken manure scraper made out of a wrecked Tesla that, as Rewiring's Matt Newman says, looks a bit like something out of Mad Max, "almost everything is electric". There aren't many others in New Zealand who have gone this far down the electric road. And, with his electric Stark Varg, the fastest off-road motorbike in the world, he's obviously having plenty of fun on that road, too.
Read moreDownloadRNZ's Kate Newton reports on the "madness" of thousands of new piped gas connections being installed into houses every year, despite dwindling supplies and higher lifetime costs.
Casey said it was positive that the numbers showed people starting to leave the gas network of their own accord, but not all households were in a position to make that choice.
"If we don't plan for a decommissioning of the gas network, then it's going to be a chaotic transition, where vulnerable New Zealanders really suffer."
As the research of Rewiring and others has shown, gas is expensive, it's getting more expensive, it's terrible for your health when burned inside and there are substitutes available right now that, on average, do the same job for less money over the long run for households, would save the country billions on health costs and lost productivity, and don't pump out unnecessary emissions.
Around 300,000 homes and businesses have connections to the gas network (it’s estimated another 300,000 use more expensive bottled gas, mostly in the South Island). The number of active connections has started to decline recently and the country’s largest gas network, Vector, is forecasting no new residential or commercial connections after 2029.
Upfront capital costs are the main barrier for many homes, which is why we're working hard on a low-interest, long-term loan scheme that can be used to pay for electric upgrades, including hot water heat pumps. This would mean paying for a new thing with a loan would be cheaper than paying to run the old thing.
Read more about the scheme here.
Disconnection costs are also a major barrier. We have seen examples where households permanently disconnecting from the network have been charged between $1,000 and $2,000 to have a meter permanently removed (i.e. digging up the pipes to the road), even though it should only cost customers $200 to have the connection capped at the house.
RNZ even reported a case where a business customer was quoted $7,500 but took the case to Utilities Disputes, where complaints about disconnection costs have been rising.
The Australian Energy Regulator and the state of Victoria have now capped the disconnection fees to a few hundred dollars to stop this kind of behaviour and protect households.