AA is expanding its electric vehicle rescue fleet nationwide as more Kiwis ditch their internal combustion cars for EVS.
As of July, New Zealand had over 46,000 EVs registered – that's rapidly increasing.
AA chief executive Nadine Tereora said that growth was about 200% year-on-year.
But that led to a problem.
“It’s that juggling Jane that's trying to get kids to school and has forgotten about charging the vehicle overnight - or they might not even have a charger at home to charge the vehicle,” she told 1News.
An EV rescue van was trialled in Wellington, which helped about 60 stuck EV users.
“The most interesting [rescue] was a vehicle in the tunnel - probably he was feeling cold and had his heater on,” explained Verendra Singh of the AA battery service.
“Suddenly he was stuck in the tunnel - the cops came and blocked the tunnel, and we went out there –in about twenty minutes he was out.”
Another time someone broke down within metres of their house, but the EV could not be pushed, he said.
On Thursday, two new vans were rolled out in Auckland, and there are plans to launch another in the South Island later this year.
The vans worked by giving a quick charge that enabled the driver to drive about 10km – to either a public charging station or their home.
Previously, dead EVs had to be towed.
There were more than 300 public charging locations across the country – the NZTA says that’s about one for every 75 kilometres of state highway.
1News also asked AA why they chose a petrol-powered van as a rescue vehicle for electric cars.
“We looked at other options - we didn't [find] anything that was fit for purpose,” said Singh, who also said the vans would be used for battery related call outs with petrol cars when they were not needed for EVs.
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