INDEPENDENT NEWS

Powered on in Darfield

Published: Wed 17 Oct 2018 02:13 PM
Powered on in Darfield today is the first Electric Vehicle Charger west of Christchurch.
The Level 2 Destination charger was donated by local businessmen David Boot, owner of EV Car Dealership, EV CITY and Simon Wheeler, owner of CHARGED EV, who also installed the charger with power supply and a carpark provided by the Darfield Pharmacy.
“This charger was inspired by those pioneering customers living further afield who were at the limits of their range.” David Boot says. “The Darfield Pharmacy Charger should provide a safety net for them and a stepping stone for others traveling further west. EV City and Charged EV will now look to Castle Hill as the location for the next step on the highway west”
It’s been a community effort organized by members of the Christchurch Electric Vehicle group, to get the ball rolling on charging infrastructure in the region. Darfield member and EV enthusiast Jason Dickens was instrumental in getting the interested parties together.
The ribbon cutting was performed by Sam Broughton, Selwyn District Mayor, who thinks EVs are the way of the future. He says “It’s really good to have more of these [chargers] and help people get across to the West Coast. The uptake of EVs is only growing, and I encourage everyone to think of an EV for their next car.
Several local EV owners and business representatives formed an electric convoy to drive out to Darfield today and witness the ribbon ceremony.
Leading the Charge Christchurch EV Champion William Stewart, has been one of the people pushing for a Darfield charger. “I went all electric this year and it’s been amazing, but the lack of access to the West Coast and ski fields has been a big barrier for me and others.” He helps run events with the Christchurch Electric Vehicle group and is keen to encourage others to get involved. “I think something like this really shows what the community can do when we get together and pool resources. We’ve been waiting on Darfield charging for several years, but by getting a bunch of people together, we’ve made this happen in just a couple of months – I think it shows how easy it can be to roll out small scale electric charging infrastructure which then paves the way for the bigger guys”.
This charger is the first charger in what hopefully is a series of chargers to form a "Go West" Electric Highway, proceeding to Castle Hill and Arthurs Pass. While these chargers aren’t a replacement for the convenience of Level 3 ‘Rapid Chargers’, it’s hoped that they will fill in the gap in the network until companies like Chargenet or other providers deploy the more capital intensive faster charging infrastructure.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=17Fz6H5xxzpW-iISNYktNFD2bPumQdRyV
Photographer - William Stewart
https://youtu.be/RoBvHcQ19ow
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