Back to the future with electric car

By Jeremy Smith, Local Govt. Correspondent

The latest technology for the Kapiti DC’s car fleet involves a hitching post outside the council building in Paraparaumu.

But this post is not for horses– it’s where they charge the council’s Nissan Leaf KET1 electric vehicle when it is not on the road. It’s the first in the fleet but council CEO Pat Dougherty says there will be more.

The charge post at Paraparaumu is for slow charge,  the same power electric car owners would use at home.

Dramatic savings

And the saving is clear and dramatic: a similar-sized petrol car costs about $14.00 per 100 km while the Leaf costs $2.14 per 100 km on slow charge. In petrol terms that’s about 35 /40 cents a kilometre.

It could be even cheaper at under 30 cent a litre equivalent if the car is charged at off-peak rates only.  The council also has a ‘fast –charge’ account which it can

use at Otaki New World. Fast charging costs more but gets the car back on the road much faster.

CEO likes it,too

The car has already been driven to Lower Hutt and Porirua. CEO Dougherty has been in it himself and says it’s a good drive.

Council manager (Programme Design and Delivery) Tania Parata says the cost of the Leaf was more than $5000 below the amount budgeted. She says this vehicle has running costs lower than some smaller vehicles.

She also notes the cost of a new Leaf has gone down since they bought it in November.