Brisbane, Australia-based Tritium has shipped 23 of its Veefil 50 kW DC fast chargers to the New Zealand company Charge.net.nz, the first phase of a three-year project to establish a network of fast chargers across the country.

“We’ve identified around 75 sites across the country and our aim is to have fast chargers installed on all of them by the end of 2017,” explains Charge.net.nz Managing Director Steve West. “EVs are perfect for New Zealand; our electricity generation is 80 percent renewable and fossil fuels are expensive to export to a relatively isolated Pacific island nation. New Zealand currently has only around 250 pure EVs, but second-hand vehicles, particularly from Japan, are becoming available at a very reasonable price and as we roll out the fast charging network, I anticipate we will see a rapid uptake in the country.”

“I looked at all the fast chargers currently available and it was an easy choice,” said West. “The Veefil is ideal for our market, where many of our car parks are in buildings with limited space. It’s slim, elegant and because it is so lightweight, it’s cost-effective to ship and install without the need of specialist equipment.”

“Steve West is a true evangelist for the benefits of EVs,” said Tritium Commercial Director Paul Sernia. “He’s an enthusiastic EV owner and driver himself and has a real vision of the benefits this fast charging network could bring to New Zealand. He’s an entrepreneur and decided that someone had to break the ‘chicken and egg’ situation.”

Source: Tritium