Electrifying comes to Marty town centre

The Renault Kangoo battery-powered delivery van will shortly be driving Martinborough streets.

The Wairarapa’s first EV (electric) delivery van will shortly be trundling P&K orders round the streets of Martinborough. It will be followed by the installation of two EV fast charging stations at the shopping carpark off the Square.

Until now, no formal plans for EV charging stations have surfaced for either local or tourist use.   

P&K ceo Conor Kershaw said the latest addition to the company’s fleet is a 2016 Renault Kangoo delivery van, freshly decked out in P & K colours. 

While it’s not the latest model, it has plenty of resilient battery life for recharging.

Four electric forklifts will also go into service in the complex within the next few months, leaving only one of the five forklift fleet powered by fossil fuel.

“We have deliberately kept one diesel for the larger lifts as well as resilience – if we were to have a prolonged power outage,” he said.

In good news for EV drivers, Conor told The Star that the company is “in discussions with two providers to locate two” public-access fast vehicle-charging units in shop carpark spaces.

“Unfortunately, this is a long and slow process.”

“We are also in the early design phase for a solar farm on (the roof of) Four Square (shops) with a local provider,” he added.

“It feels there is lots not done in this (electric development) space – but we have started.”