Electric Island: Waiheke

[Alex Stone - Waiheke Weekender - 10 Jan 2019]

The goal for the recently announced initiative on Waiheke, "Electric Island", is for a totally clean island in terms of transport and power supply by 2030.

In an article in Waiheke Weekender, dated 10 January, local EV Owner, Alex Stone, talks to other Islanders including The Better NZ Trust's own Carl Barlev, and the owners of Easy Transport, a (nearly) EV-only taxi service on the island.

Read Full Article here.

excerpt ... "The first electric car on the island was a mini converted in the 1990s by Graham Duncan. ... Sacha from Easy Transport, estimates there are between 30 and 40 LEAF's on the island and is convinced this makes it the highest per capital electric vehicle ownership of any community in the country. "I reckon 5 - 10 of our customers have bought EVs after riding in one of ours", he says. ... Carl Barlev, a qualified electrical engineer, is on a mission. He wants to ensure as many NZers as possible have the opportunity to drive an electric car. To this end, he set up "Blue Cars" - a try-before-you-buy chance to rent a Nissan LEAF. The rental side of the company is now "on ice" (Carl's term) as rising insurance costs have cut into its viability. [Blue Cars is still running as] ... a specialist servicing and repairs outfit for electric cars - the first of its kind in NZ. ... In 2014, Carl and his family moved back to New Zealand where he was shocked at the lack of EVs here. "Being an engineer, I wanted to fix the problem." 

Carl and his family spent some time touring the country with their imported Tesla, on what was to be the very first (but unofficial) #LeadingTheCharge Road Trip. It was during this trip, that Carl and other road trippers co-founded the Better NZ Trust.