Martinborough Fair February 2021
The Wellington/Wairarapa BNZT volunteers were out in force at the first Martinborough Fair this year!
Organised by Donald Love and Rob Birnie, they engaged the public at the event and offered rides in a Tesla Model 3! The stand sported 1 Leaf (Donald) with Chris’s Leaf parked elsewhere, 4 Model 3s (Ross, Deborah, Brayden and Rob Moes), an MG ZS from Gazeley Motors in Wellington and Simon Magrett’s Zero SR ZF 13.0 e-bike.
In fact, two of the Model 3 owners were kept busy doing rides for 90 individuals and one person said that after their Model 3 ride they were cancelling their Porsche Cayenne order and getting a Tesla!
Brayden, with a Model 3 Performance with added ‘car revving noises’ commented “There was one person I spoke too who was your typical “this is why petrol is so much better than electric” and for every reason he had, I had a better answer so finally he hit me with the “sound argument ……. and then gave up.”. This demonstrates that with an EV you can have any sound you want!!
The Wairarapa does host a cohort of the population who can and do buy expensive cars. One person commented: “$105k (for a fully spec’d Tesla Model 3) isn’t bad, that is what I paid for my Range Rover Evoque”.
However for many the upfront purchase price still remains a significant barrier, and one we hope will be addressed by Government in the not-too-distant future.
Chris, a Leaf owner and volunteer did a partial survey of the attendees for a couple of hours to get a handle on the penetration of EV information. His figures were:-
Those who own an EV - 7,
Those who have driven an EV – 4
Those who have ridden in an EV – 7
Those who know someone who has an EV – 2
Those who said no to all of the above – 11
That is quite an uplifting survey showing that two-thirds of those surveyed knew something about EVs! Our EVangelising message is getting through!
The MG ZS EV brought to the Fair by Gazley Motors, Wellington did attract a lot of attention with its very attractive price point. Francois, the salesman, said their sales of MG’s in January were very good indeed, pointing to the popularity of this new EV model to the NZ market. Watch out for one on a road near you!
The good news is that the volunteers get to do it all over again at the second Martinborough Fair on the 6th March 2021. If you live in the area make sure you go along and see them!!