Up the Kilowahs! Checkout the EDB Scoreboard
Another great piece from RNZ's Eloise Gibson about our mixed rankings in the global EV charging stakes and the need to lift our game as EVs become more popular (globally, nearly one in five cars sold in 2023 was electric, a 35 percent year-on-year increase). The government promised 10,000 more public chargers by 2030 and $257 million in funding has been allocated to that goal. At this stage, it's not clear where that money will be spent, but one option that isn't explored in the story is the potential to make use of our 50,000 farms. Farmers investing in mid-scale solar and battery systems could not only power their own machines much more affordably and earn money for sending electricity back to the grid at peak times, but they could also become part of an extensive national charging network and create another new revenue stream. Farms are usually very close to the medium voltage networks, meaning they can scale up renewable systems without physical constraints or undue overloading risks to the distribution networks.
Read moreDownload the document hereWhen many of the poles and wires went down in Southland after the recent storms, a number of homes, farms and businesses with solar and batteries were able to keep running. And TVNZ's Jared McCulloch spoke to the owners of Fairbank Farms about their experience.
Read moreDownloadThere’s plenty of energy emanating from the ground at Te Puia in Rotorua. And there’s plenty of creative energy emanating from those studying at the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute. Now there’s also plenty of electric energy, because the business has upgraded its fossil fuel vehicles and added a big solar system so they can run on the sun.
Read moreDownloadIn search of cleaner air, Vietnam prepares to usher in an electric motorbike era, while other developing nations go electric for the economics and the UK goes bananas for small EVs; ten years since the Paris Accord and there are many reasons to be optimistic; America's first all-electric hospital gets set to open; Pila Energy looks to get more storage into homes by focusing on appliances; Australia takes another step forward on V2G and some customers are making good money from renting out their cars; and an electric angle to the Louvre heist.
Read moreDownload