Gearing up for an Epic Road Trip from Top to Tip of NZ
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/motoring/news/article.cfm?c_id=9&objectid=11374528 Driving NZ from top to bottom in an electric car By Peter de Graaf, Mike Dinsdale Dec 15, 2014 [image http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/image/jpg/201451/11aa828bb5b2fd67459ba56045797f78ed8043f1_620x310.jpg (selfie) RETURN TRIP: Craig Salmon with his electric car after reaching Bluff on his epic trip to be the first person to drive an electric car from Cape Reinga to Bluff and back. ] A Far North man attempting to make motoring history by driving his electric car from Cape Reinga to Bluff and back is on his return journey and should be home by Christmas. Craig Salmon started his journey on November 21 in his 2012 Nissan Leaf electric car and made it to Bluff last Friday - possibly making him the first person to drive a production-model, 100 per cent electric car the length of the country. He now hopes to be back home in Paihia in time for Christmas after finishing his journey at the Cape. One of the barriers to wider use of electric cars has been the lack of public charging facilities but Mr Salmon hopes to show nationwide travel is already possible, even in some of New Zealand's more out-of-the-way places. When the Northern Advocate caught up with him over the weekend Mr Salmon was in Wellington, waiting to charge his car up ahead of heading north after completing 4000km at a total cost of $200 of power. The beekeeper and IT worker said he did not work for a car company but wanted to prove a few points, including that fully electric cars are available, reliable and cheap to run - about $5 per 100km, depending on the power company and what time you charge up. While he was always confident his trip was possible, he said New Zealand needed more public charging facilities. Supermarkets, councils, libraries, movie theatres and car parks, for example, should be installing charge stations to attract people to stop and shop. Mr Salmon said he had found no problems recharging his car along the way - it can be charged on a standard three-point household plug over several hours or on a 20 minute 'fast charge' at special electric vehicle charging stations - and he had seen potential opportunities for tourist operators. "I've been staying at a lot of holiday parks and it's a real conversation topic when I pull up and plug her in, people come up and want to have a test drive. many don't realise she's an electric car and it blows them away when they realise just how well she goes," he said. "I was staying in the Catlins and while I was waiting for the car to charge at the local camp ground I went to see the yellow-eyed penguins. I think there's an opportunity for tourism operators to run special trips for people to see the sights or do the activities in their area while they are charging their cars." Mr Salmon said he was motivated to go electric one day when he was sitting on a hill overlooking Whangarei Harbour watching oil tankers. "I thought, 'This is ridiculous, we should be using our own electricity to get around not imported oil'. An accident with any of those tankers could ruin one of my favourite beaches. That drove me to find a way to buy an electric car and do something positive about getting off oil." His trip was no Goodbye Pork Pie. "It's a holiday trip through some of the more remote parts of the country, showing how electric transport is possible now but that we still need to gear up our infrastructure." [© nzherald.co.nz] http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1412/S00324/gearing-up-for-an-epic-road-trip-from-top-to-tip-of-nz.htm Gearing up for an Epic Road Trip from Top to Tip of NZ December 16, 2014 Press Release – Dee and Steve West [image http://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/1412/b9041c6c90df217214e1.jpeg Intrepid Group Gearing up for an Epic Road Trip from Top to Tip of New Zealand ] The first two Tesla Model S cars to arrive in New Zealand have seen a good chunk of this beautiful country, even though they landed only a few short weeks ago. Recently returned from the Evolocity event in Christchurch, Model S owners Carl Barlev and Steve West spent the weekend with their cars and families at an off–grid bach north of Auckland. They used the weekend to put the final touches on planning for the road trip that kicks off in less than two weeks and takes the team from Cape Reinga to Bluff. The convoy will include good friend and fellow Electric Vehicle (EV) enthusiast Nick Smith. Nick will be driving the sporty Tesla Roadster on the journey. The group will be stopping and meeting with the public, local press and businesses along the way to discuss charging infrastructure across New Zealand. Well managed and maintained charging across New Zealand will help speed up the process of EV uptake and bring all of New Zealand closer to realizing the very achievable goal of energy independence. Advances in EV technology, and the price of entry level light electric vehicles (from $20,000.00 for an imported Leaf for example) means the future of reduced energy costs for Kiwi families adopting EV is finally a reality for more people. Having access to charging all over this beautiful nation means one of the very real barriers to people #LeadingTheCharge with EV ownership will be removed, and more Kiwi households can and will own Electric Vehicles. For those of you interested in coming along to see the cars and talk to the people who have been using them for years already, please see the schedule below: 29/12/14 Auckland/Rodney 30/12/14 Rodney/Whangarei/Bay of Islands 31/12/14 Paihia 01/01/15 Bay of Islands to Kaitaia 02/01/15 Kaitaia to Cape Rienga to Whangarei 02/01/15 Auckland overnight rest stop (no events) 03/01/15 Sylvia Park to Thames Interislander Races 04/01/15 Waikato Region to Rotorua 05/01/15 Taupo 06/01/15 Palmerston North to Wellington to Picton 07/01/15 Marlborough Region to Kaikoura to Christchurch 08/01/15 Christchurch to Twizel 09/01/15 Twizel to Benmore to Queenstown 10/01/15 Queenstown to Invercargill 11/01/15 Invercargill to Bluff to Dunedin 12/01/15 Dunedin to Oamaru to Timaru to Christchurch 13/01/15 Christchurch to Picton (Evening Ferry to Wellington) 14/01/15 Wellington to Ruapehu District 15/01/15 Ruapehu District to Hamilton to Auckland The organisers of this road trip would like to hear from you if you have any questions or would like host the group and our cars at any events or locations along our route. For further information you can find us on Facebook by searching for our Leading the Charge page. *********** END ************** [auckland.scoop.co.nz © 2014] For EVLN posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ http://www.evdl.org/archive/index.html#nabble+template%2FNamlServlet.jtp%3Fmacro%3Dsearch_page%26node%3D413529%26query%3DEVLN%2Bbrucedp2%26days%3D0%26sort%3Ddate http://www.modernreaders.com/the-nissan-leaf-turns-four-feature-report-focuses-on-four-peculiar-leafs/15707/mark-kesler Leaf celebrated Turning 4 – Four interesting Leaf EV variations http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/141211/finnish-company-develops-more-energy-efficient-winter-tyre Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 energy-efficient winter tyre designed4 i3 EV http://clatl.com/atlanta/new-gun-range-near-atlantic-station-preaches-safety-inclusion/Content?oid=12925174 Charge your EV & rent a full-auto machine gun @stoddardsguns.com GA http://skylineviews.typepad.com/skyline_views/2014/10/aging-industrial-building-gets-new-life-as-city-of-atlantas-only-gun-range.html + How S. Africans' EVs can keep their beer cold> V2H {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Kiwi-Leaf-EV-r-Driving-NZ-from-top-to-bottom-tp4673092.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
