Second pair of EV charging stations for Martinborough

Two EV chargers with the ability to charge three vehicles at once are currently being installed at  Martinborough’s Freemasons Lodge carpark _ the pilot location chosen by the nationwide charity group for “proof of concept” testing.

If the project is successful, the group could expand the installation  programme to as many as 35 small town Freemason Lodge sites across the country, project lead Andrew Cowie told The Star.

“We are supporting the community, supporting the country and supporting the climate change (fight),” Cowie said as electricians began groundwork to install charging cables at the Strasbourge St carpark.

Last month Pain & Kershaw announced it was installing two EV chargers in its supermarket carpark _ and had started grocery deliveries with an EV Renault van.

Cowie noted that Martinborough is “a destination town,” which attacts high tourism numbers _ many driving EVs which need charger access. It would allow visitors to “park in our site, charge, wander the streets of the town, spend money and help the local economy _ so we see a number of consquential benefits.” 

Whakatane, another “destination town,” was next on the installation list, if the concept proves successful. 

One of the two new charging units being installed just three minutes walk from The Square would be for 20-minute DC charging, the other will use slower AC current, taking 2 – 3 hours for a full charge.

The two chargers, being supplied by Moore Wilson subsidiary ThunderGrid and by Ampal, come at a cost of around $8,500, with building rewiring and other costs to be added, he said. 

Larger EV network charging providers aim at high levels of passing vehicles for their sites, with one requiring 100,000 passing vehicles for an installation.

Freemason Kevin Hastings said the charity group’s lodge has good parking space, there are “a lot of EV-driving members,” the charging point plans are not competing with other EV charge networks and Martinborough is a very good pilot project.

The charger location will have no impact on public parking spaces, and the facility “helps promote Martinborough as a forward-thinking community and an even more desirable visitor destination.”

Added Cowie: “Freemasons is the largest provider of charity in the country _ people just don’t realise it, so for us it’s all about community and the way we can spread support.”

Their work included being “the (country’s) single largest educational scholarship provider, largest retirement home provider, we have a significant amount of charity going out all the time and a lot of our charity is small community-based … going under the radar.”  

SWDC Group Manager Partnerships and Operations Stefan Corbett told the pair “in terms of the council’s position we’re supportive of the initiative. We’re happy to see you’re ccommunicating with us (SWDC) and the community.”

“For us it’s another contribution from a major charitable organisation to the region and we welcome it.”

The Lodge plans an opening event at their charge site carpark on July 3.