Leading the Charge Hamilton

Organiser Justin Boyd had arranged a large variety of EVs to be there, brought by both EV owners and local businesses, as well as the folks on the roadtrip.

The event started with speeches by Justin Boyd, Hamilton City mayor Andrew King and Mark Henry of Mercury who had also brought Evie, their electric 1957 Ford Fairlane.

Evie was in pride of place on the podium in Garden Place with her minder Mike “Trippy” Tripp and the Mercury team showing people around her. Expect to see many pictures of people in a bright yellow car very soon.

There was an excellent turnout of different EVs on display. These included a Mini Countryman and 3 series PHEVs brought along by Coombes Johnston BMW who are about to become an i-Brand dealership on the April 1, as well as several BMW i3’s brought by local owners.

Ebbett Volkswagen brought along two eGolf’s – one of the first generation and also the newer version which they use to promote EVs as part of their “Think Blue Waikato” initiative.

The University of Waikato is also a big supporter of EVs with several different types in its fleet. The university brought a Nissan e-NV200 and a converted Mitsubishi van which was a project of their engineering school.

Waste Management also brought along two of its fleet, a Nissan e-NV200 and a BMW i3. There were two Hyundai Ioniqs dressed up in Fonterra and WEL Networks sign writing, plus a whole fleet of Nissan Leafs brought by the Hamilton EV Owners group.

The Leading the Charge team did 13 test drives in a selection of vehicles, including the new Hyundai Ioniq PHEV, Nissan Leafs, a Renault Zoe, a BMW i3 brought along by Drive EV and the new Nissan Leaf from GVI Electric. The tour had also been in Tauranga earlier that day, where they did over 30 test drives and rides.

[Rachel Hadfield - EV Talk - 29 Mar 2018]

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