Electric Ferries, Smart Chargers and Load Management with Peter Allington

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Episode Transcript

Paul Spain:

Hey, folks. Greetings, and welcome along to the New Zealand Tech Podcast. I’m your host, Paul Spain. And today, fantastic to be sitting down with Peter Allington of Singer Electric to talk about, I guess, electrifying transport in New Zealand and and particularly delving in, with some focus on fairies, which is a really interesting, area because we we we’ve had a little bit of a a chat in the past around boats, and and there’s some, you know, real challenges. And and hence why we see the likes of Hamilton Jet, doing doing a, you know, a a hybrid, vehicle. So this is it’s gonna be a great topic. So, you know, thank you for for joining us, Peter.

Peter Allington:

Thanks, Paul.

Paul Spain:

Look. Lots and lots that we could, that we could talk about, but, maybe you can just a sort of A Look Back. You’re with Singer Electric. Tell us about this company. This is a New Zealand company. Been around for, what, how many decades?

Peter Allington:

Been around for 7, decades. Yes. For 70 years. Roughly around a decade in, in the electric vehicle space. Yep. So we’re just working with With clients to, to really electrify their fleet and and upgrade their infrastructure.

Paul Spain:

And so you’re very much on the the the the technology that allows, them to to power that fleet and get them get their vehicles charged and so on and and, you know, putting that that technology together. That’s what you’ve you’ve mostly been focused on.

Peter Allington:

Yeah. We’ve partnered with, ABB, who are a Global leading technology company. They provide our smart chargers and and, equipment. And, So, yeah, we we’re working with them to really get the cutting edge of of the technology available.

Paul Spain:

Fantastic. And so yeah. I mean, it’s it’s really has been an interesting and and, you know, in recent times, a reasonably fast moving, you know, journey. I think in the in the in the earlier days, we were we were talking about electric vehicles, it was with such a, you know, little sort of tiny, you know, niche thing and, you know, $150,000 plus Tesla’s and and so on. They weren’t they weren’t you know, it wasn’t a a particularly probably accessible, area, you know, necessarily. So you had you know, the Tesla’s at one end. Other end was sort of, you know, your your your Japanese, you know, import sort of, you know, sec secondhand, EVs predominantly the yeah. The Nissan LEAF.

Paul Spain:

Right? And and all the sort of complexities in that that that came with that. So the the ones coming in from Japan, they need sort of a charger. And then it was well, what standards are we gonna land on as sort of we’ve moved through things with, you know, what’s BMW doing versus what’s, Tesla doing and and and so on. It’s, you know, quite a few, you know, complexities and and and challenges. But, of course, now we’ve we’ve we’ve got, you know, built out a a pretty capable sort of charging network around the country in terms of, you know, you know, public charges for for private, vehicles. But, of course, you know, from a a business perspective for those that are sort of building up their their fleets. It’s it’s not necessarily as simple for, for families. Right? Because there’s a, I guess, a broad range of of needs to, you know, to cater to.

Paul Spain:

In some cases, it is just a a company car that does a, you know, a few k’s a day and so on, and that that sort of stuff is is probably, you know, re at the reasonably easy end to sort of cater to, but then you’ve got all sorts some other commercial, vehicles and and and use cases. And then, you know, there’s the broader transport world where where we’re gonna, you know, delve into on the on on the fairies. What what can you tell us around, you know, the the the sort of trends that you’ve seen? You’ve you know, you’ve been in you’ve been in this field, you know, yourself Yeah. With singer for the best part of a a a decade. What are sort of the things that jump out to you?

Peter Allington:

Yeah. Well, there’s, you know, there’s roughly 90,000 electric vehicles on the road now, and that that’s, increasing 6% at the moment year on year. I think think it’s doubled, sorry, within the last, 18 months, that number, so it’s rapidly taking off. Yeah. And and There’s, I suppose the, Yeah. So the uptake is really happening quite fast, and and so there’s a lot of challenges with building that public network. Yep. Yep.

Peter Allington:

And making sure there’s high powered charges available, really.

Paul Spain:

And so, I mean, we looked at sort of when we looked at the sort of the first charges that were that were coming through, they they weren’t as as high powered. And, of course, like, you know, for me, I can charge at home, over overnight. In a in a small business at the moment. We’re probably in a there’s a there’s a sort of challenges, what’s the right thing to do. You know, businesses move around premises and so on. So where’s the best place to to charge? We’re we’re, you know, EV only, you know, firm now. What what are you seeing in terms of the trends as, you know, to what what businesses do? We’re seeing, you know, landlords provide the charging infrastructure. Is it is it more the businesses themselves who, you know, that’s that’s part of what they do as part of moving into new premises that that they’re they’re putting in the charging infrastructure, or is it a bit of a variety?

Peter Allington:

It’s a bit of a a variety, really. It’s so unique every every case. Yeah. So it’s really about working with the client and and the stakeholders to ensure that they get the right size charger or the right, equipment, and and upgrade where they need to, really, and whether that’s also within the business or at home or, How they do that. Yep.

Paul Spain:

And and what what’s sort of the what’s the scale? What are the the, you know, the biggest sort of bunches of charges and so on and and, yeah, because it it’s pretty pricey to put in a, you know, really high speed charger, and and we’ve seen Yeah. You know, ChargeNet and the like and, you know, partly through sort of government funding put in, you know, these sort of 300, you know, kilowatt. I think they they call their ones sort of hyper charges and

Peter Allington:

Yes.

Paul Spain:

You know, Tesla, you know, have been putting in their their various sort of generations of charges, which are getting better and faster. And, you know, the I think that, you know, the latest iterations. You you may be avoiding some of the past issues where you you’re charging, but there’s somebody charging next to you so the the amount of, you know, juice, you know, drop drop the or the peak, possibility sort of drops in half. Those sorts of things are, you know, are starting to be, address, but it’s it’s a pretty expensive endeavor to get everything in place and and quite time consuming to get the Powerfed.

Peter Allington:

Yeah. It is. Yeah. So, the standard size charge is around 7 kilowatts, just for the domestic or

Paul Spain:

Yep. I think that’s probably what I’ve got at home.

Peter Allington:

Yep. Yep. And so, you know, they’re relatively inexpensive. But then the higher powered, yeah, they do get a lot more, and there’s a lot more complex challenges around that too with, load management, making sure the capacity, doesn’t be exceeded, you know, so you don’t blow any fuses and and whatnot. So, yeah, I mean, it’s a it’s a real challenge to to work out what the best solution is for for each client.

Paul Spain:

Yeah. Okay. And, the the this sort of, you know, journey to, you know, to electrify. And you said, you know, it’d been it’d been growing, you know, very rapidly. Especially, I guess, we had that period over the last 18 months where, you know, consumers and and businesses had that sort of an an incentive. They’re getting some nice rebates back on their on their vehicles. Yeah, do you see the that that having dropped off as that that’s not gonna put a stop to things, but I guess that it just impacts the pace, to to a degree. Do you do you have a feeling for how much impact that’ll that’ll have?

Peter Allington:

I I’m I’m optimistic that it’s not gonna have too much of an impact. I think it’s the the exponential growth that will hopefully continue. General user, around fuel consumption and and charging, use Yep.

Paul Spain:

Yep. Even with road user coming in. You think that’ll be kept in in balance so that it definitely tips in that direction?

Peter Allington:

Yeah. I think so. Yeah. I mean, you’ve it’s the cheapest way to drive a 100 k’s. At the moment, I think it’s about sure.

Paul Spain:

Unless you’re driving a bicycle.

Peter Allington:

Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. So I think it’s

Paul Spain:

And then you’d take the the electric bicycle Securrout anyway, wouldn’t you?

Peter Allington:

Yeah. You would. So I think it’s around $5 to charge at home. It’s around 15, I think, on the high powered network and around $18, If you’re following up with petrol. So, you know, it is a lot cheaper, so I’m hoping that those, government sort of Initiatives that they’ve removed, won’t play too much of a part.

Paul Spain:

Yeah. Yep. Well, I guess we’d we’d just have to see it. It does seem to me like there’s a fair bit of momentum now. And and, you know, once once a, you know, a family starts moving down that electric track, it does you know, it seems to be that, you know, that that that, they don’t go back in most in most cases. Says why.

Peter Allington:

Recently moved into a electric vehicle. It’s great. It’s nice to drive. It’s, yeah, it’s fantastic.

Paul Spain:

And and there’s a sort of technological benefit two thousand there with the the newest vehicles, particularly the EVs. There there seems to be that that extra, you know, leaning into into more, more of a technology, you know, capability. Of course, any new vehicle has has has got, yeah, a more more capable, you know, entertainment systems and and capabilities than than than something from, you know, a decade or so ago. And and, you know, depending on those sort of you’re making at, you know, it can make a big difference. Although I had some interesting experiences in, in Australia recently, and or hired a a BYD. And, interestingly, their, was with, Sixt, SIXT, the rental company. And they seem to have bought up a big fleet of the BYD, EVs. They’ve they’ve got some others as well, but maybe they bought too many because they were renting them out at a fraction of what their press release from earlier on in the Right.

Paul Spain:

In the year had said they were gonna be renting them for. So it was, there was virtually or possibly even the cheapest car that was available to rent. So a little tip, if you wanna try out an EV and you go into Australia, that that’s one way of trying out an EV, because I need to rent a car anyway.

Peter Allington:

Mhmm.

Paul Spain:

And then the other thing that that they do in Australia is they offer free re free, free charging. Although there is a there was a little bit of a hiccup and the key fob they gave me for the charging didn’t work, and so I had to pay for it. And now I have to remember to actually send in the sending the bill and get them to, to to re refund my charging. Yeah. Well so, yeah. So it’s something something to be aware of, but, you know, Australia, I think, certainly behind New Zealand. That’s an, you know, another area where we’re, you know, we’re we’re a bit further ahead. Yeah.

Paul Spain:

Yeah. I noticed, you know, the number of EVs on the road in Australia seems to be dramatically, lower certainly in Queensland than what than what we see around, Auckland.

Peter Allington:

Yeah. I think the government’s really pushed it a lot more, in New Zealand and Australia given these initiatives and

Paul Spain:

Yep.

Peter Allington:

And really trying to grow the market.

Paul Spain:

And look. There always had to be a point when when, you know, the incentives drop off. Right? That’s right. I think it’s just probably just a debate over, yeah, when was the right time, but, what what’s happened has has happened. So let let’s, you know, let’s let’s delve in a a little bit into this this situation, with fairies where where Singer has been has been working. You know, tell us tell us about what you’re doing on on that front. What you know, where’s this happening, how many ferries are, are are involved and doesn’t even make sense to electrify ferries. There’s probably a few areas we can we can tap into, but that that’s at the top of my mind.

Peter Allington:

Yeah. I mean, I I guess, first, it totally makes sense to to You know, the ferries, they’re around 6% of the public transport, usage, but they’re responsible for around 20% of the Of the Public Transport Emissions. Okay.

Paul Spain:

Oh, that’s that’s quite a big deal then.

Peter Allington:

Yeah. I think so. Yeah. So, yeah, Auckland Transport, they bought, I think it’s 7, electric or electric hybrid, ferries. And we’ve been working with them in, since 2021, partner with ABB, like I mentioned. And yeah. So we’ve just been working through that. The ferry’s Relatively large.

Peter Allington:

So they’re 300 passengers, there, which is around double the capacity of what’s currently on the network. So, yeah, it’s a great it’s a great initiative that Auckland Transport are doing.

Paul Spain:

Yeah. That’s quite a significant upgrade moving to, you know, moving to the bigger bigger vessels. That’s that’s that’s very, very helpful. You know, sounds, you know, I think it it’ll be appreciated. I I used to catch a ferry to to work quite, you know, quite some time ago. But if you’re in sort of a location and and, you know, certainly around Auckland. We’ve got a a few of those, a few of those scenarios, especially why why Hickey. You know, that that’s a that’s a, you know, a, a big commute.

Paul Spain:

Something that we we have we have to, we have to cater to. And if, if it can be done with with an electric, electric vehicle with a with an electric theory. That’s really cool.

Peter Allington:

Yeah.

Paul Spain:

How how how do you deal with that sort of challenge of, you know, they they use a lot of, you know, a lot of power. Right? And, and it’s, you know, I guess, as it’s that reality that it’s a shorter journey and you can get bursts of of charging in through the day that makes it possible.

Peter Allington:

Yeah. That’s right. So the it’s a charging set. It’s a 3.3 megawatt charging set.

Paul Spain:

3.3 megawatts. So that Yeah. That’s more than sort of 10 times those, hyperchargers we’re talking about before so that that, yeah, I guess gives an idea of the sort of scale of battery. And how long how long could they get sort of you know, they’re able to be plugged in because you’re not able to do a full charge from between, you know, 1 one ride and the next, are you?

Peter Allington:

No. That’s right. So it’ll be around 10 minutes, we’ll we’ll charge, which, Will be the equivalent of, you know, 25 average homes, that they use in a day. So they’ll get a burst of energy for 10 minutes

Paul Spain:

to 10 minutes of that charge is the equivalent of of 25 hours over a full day.

Peter Allington:

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. All 450 cars, Yeah. Being charged as well. So Yeah.

Peter Allington:

Quite large. So it gets a bit of a top up, and it and it goes on its way. And throughout the day, it’ll slowly go down, and then it’ll be fully charged overnight. So, yeah, that that’s the whole idea around it at the moment.

Paul Spain:

Yeah. Wow. And and when we look at getting this, you know, the the charging infrastructure out for, you know, whether it’s for, you know, Tesla charges, any of these sort of high speed ones. It seems to be, you know, many months sort of process to to make it happen. And, yeah, there’s all sorts of, you know, complexities. Yeah. I think we’ve seen, yeah, Tesla, for instance. I don’t know when they first announced that they were they were gonna have their, infrastructure available within Tauranga.

Paul Spain:

And I don’t I don’t think I don’t think they’ve delivered it yet. I, I’m not not there a lot, but it’s one of those things of, you know, when’s it gonna happen. Some of these things are, you know, complexities with with the locations and and and leases and coming to those sort of arrangements. We’ve seen that with, you know, councils and and private entities that they’ve negotiated with. But part of it is is being able to get the the the juice there, the power there off the national grid, and to get that sort of thing run. Now when you’re dealing with, the electricity for, you know, a charger at at that, that level for for a ferry. How difficult is that? Is that, you know, something that because everyone’s behind it, it it’s quite quick and easy to to get it happening, or is it a pretty drawn out process?

Peter Allington:

Definitely some challenges and a drawn out process. Yeah. Victor are behind it as well to to, you know, upgrade their side of the network, coming in. And so it it is a it is quite a complicated process. It’s It’s not just straightforward connected in in Uruguay.

Paul Spain:

Not just running an extension quarter across from Queen Street down to, down to where the ferries are then.

Peter Allington:

No. No. We’ll be running a new feed back to the substation in, at the end of Key Street there.

Paul Spain:

Some chunk of work. Right?

Peter Allington:

Yeah. I mean, there is some spare, ducks and stuff in the road, but that Right. That’s for that’s Auckland Transport and and Victor are on that sort of side of the of the installation. We’re more on the the from the LV side on. LV. The low sorry. The low voltage side. Yeah.

Peter Allington:

So, yes. So that’ll be

Paul Spain:

you take in their their power, and then you’re putting it in a in a the manner that’s gonna be able to be, received by the electric theory.

Peter Allington:

Yeah. And so we sort of have a defined footprint that we’ve been allocated. And so we need to make sure that the equipment can fit into that, that footprint, and it’s across, you know, different footprints in different areas. Mhmm. So we’re working through the The ferry terminal at the moment, downtown ferry terminal. So, yeah, there’s gonna be some it’s gonna look pretty nice. It’s gonna be functional. And,

Paul Spain:

Yeah. That’s cool. Now, you know, we talked a little bit earlier, you know, around these different sort of connectors and standards and and things have have got a lot, you know, simpler, you know, when it comes to plugging in cars, we’ve, you know, we’ve gone to standards. Although, you know, even that, there’s been a, you know, moving target, I suppose, you know, just in in in North America. You know, we’ve we’ve seen the the industry, you know, the industry globally in terms of how how the vehicles are gonna be charged, that that are sold into, you know, you know, not at United States sort of, I guess, first first, and foremost, where, you know, where we had a, I guess, the US sort of version of, I think it’s the sort of type 2, charging that that sort of seemed to be what, all the manufacturers were were going with other than Tesla. And and Tesla. You know, we’re arguing, well, our connect is smaller and better, and why wouldn’t you use it? And, you know, they went so far as to sort of, you know, open source everything and then rename their connector, somewhat as the North American charging standard. Yep.

Paul Spain:

But, obviously, that that you know, we look we look now that’s, that that’s playing out pretty well, the whole industry. I I’m not sure there’s any major play. I I think actually now that the last major player has has come on board over

Peter Allington:

Yeah. That’s right.

Paul Spain:

You know, over a period of what is it? Must be maybe it’s 12 months or so now. But a period where, yeah, they just sort of fell like dominoes and and, you know, pretty much everyone has sort of settled on on moving to, their their their connector. And arguably, maybe the rest of the world, you know, would would benefit as well because theirs is a smaller and and simpler, key connector. I don’t know. We, you know, we got different standards in different countries. Now, which brings, you know, some complexity, but it’s it’s a lot better than, I think you were telling me before the show. Maybe something like 20 different, you know, ways of, you know, connections from an electric vehicle standard. So we’re we’re streets ahead of that.

Peter Allington:

So that’s pretty good. Out there and, you know, there’s 5 major types, in different, you know, regions around the the globe. Yeah. That’s where this Megawatt charging system that we’re putting in for the ferry will will be really good because it’s it’s a initiative, 300 plus players of Global Industry for that sort of the 1 megawatt and above charging.

Paul Spain:

Okay. So they’re trying to So they they are coming together. We don’t expect it to one plug that, we’re gonna have to throw all this gear out in 6 months because there’s a new standard.

Peter Allington:

That’s right. Yes. So it’ll be consolidated. So they’re all using the same plug. Yeah. Okay. You can bring Something from North America to to say New Zealand and still be able to charge that. So

Paul Spain:

Oh, that’s an important consideration, isn’t it? Because because, yeah, boat boats travel a lot more than cars do in terms of internationally.

Peter Allington:

Yep. So Okay. And as well as, you know, the trucks and high powered sort of, heavy industry equipment as well that that will be utilizing this because you got large battery capacity. Mhmm. You know, they need to have this megawatt charging system Or else it’ll take, you know, hours and hours to charge the equipment and, you know, an industry that’s just not, feasible. See, that’s where the all the industry is coming together and trying to trying to put that through and agree on the different standards. And as you could imagine, there’s a lot of moving parts That they need to put together, but, yeah, there there is some, projects globally that are that are running at the moment for as a prototype. So the expectation, I think, was start of 24.

Peter Allington:

So it’s slightly moving to get all that agreement globally, but it is coming along.

Paul Spain:

Oh, I hope that I hope that play you know, plays out well. Yeah. We’ve certainly seen the electrification of, you know, buses pretty heavily, you know, around, you know, very parts of New Zealand. And, you know, trucking has been moving in that direction, you know, to a to a degree for for a while. Yeah. I guess this sort of megawatt plus, charging is is still probably very small in terms of a percentage at the moment. But, yeah, getting that that standardized for the future, really important. Oh, that’s that’s really pleasing to hear that, those those things are being being addressed.

Paul Spain:

And, yeah, when when you talk about these sort of investments, you don’t really wanna be having to, yeah, mess around with with with so many different, different options. Now, one of the questions that often sort of comes up as, you know, as a country, have we got the power infrastructure to be able to cope with the electrification, you know, of of, you know, both our our, you know, personal vehicles, you know, passenger, Synga, you know, transport, that that’s privately owned, through the public transport and and commercial, you know, transportation, needs. What what can you tell us about about that in terms of your your knowledge? Because, obviously, that’s pretty important to singer’s business if there’s not if there’s not the capacity. You’ve gotta be, you know, prodding governments and

Peter Allington:

and,

Paul Spain:

and and, you know, the the varying companies to to invest back into into that area and increase our our capacity. What what are your thoughts?

Peter Allington:

Yeah. So we do have enough capacity. I think if, if all passenger or light vehicle, were converted to electric, It’ll be about 20% increase on on the current loads, which we have capacity to to deal with that. And there’s more, especially renewable projects coming online all the time. Is it

Paul Spain:

Is it a is it a matter of kind of picking the times of of when things are charged. How much does that play into? Because if everyone’s charging at once and and it’s on the middle of summer when everyone’s air conditionings running or it’s middle of winter and and, you know, everyone’s sort of home heating’s on or something. I mean, there are there are peak times, right, where where it would be a problem.

Peter Allington:

That’s right. Yeah. So you wanna be, putting in a smart charger so that you can, set the time Or the have a load management system to be able to look at the loads. But, yeah, you wanna be able to charge off peak, really, so that you can take advantage of the, Lower rates and also to have less burden on the infrastructure.

Paul Spain:

Yep. And I guess we’ve we know we look back through history, you know, you know, 100 years ago. Also, you know, there there there were parts of you know, lots of parts of the the the world, where there there wasn’t electricity. I remember, yeah, talk talking to my dad around the village. He grew up in, in England. And, when he was growing up, they didn’t have electricity, you know, running running into their house. And I’m thinking, how can that have happened? That surely that was it was 150 years ago, but, he he’s not a 150. So, you know, there’s a in in recent times, we’ve had a lot of areas go from, you know, no, you know, no connection to to a grid, to being, you know, fully connected to to, you know, really, you know, massive Yeah.

Paul Spain:

You know, capabilities. And, of course, we’re very fortunate in New Zealand that, you know, as, you know, such a high percentage of that is being drawn from renewable sources, which is, you know, pretty unusual globally sort of that percentage, isn’t it?

Peter Allington:

I think we’re 4th best in the in the OECD Around that, so around 87%. You know? And you and you look at the history of of load management, I suppose, in New Zealand. You got the ripple relay, which used to control the hot water cylinders. So we’re just trying to move that more into a smarter kind of a way with, controlling loads through, smart chargers, really.

Paul Spain:

Right. So the ripple relay sort of back in the day. I’m not service still sort of runs now. That was their their ability to sort of effectively, you know, send a message through the through the the power grid, to for sort of turning on and off of hot water system hot water cylinders. Is that right?

Peter Allington:

That That’s right. Yeah. So that it’s more heating on off peak times.

Paul Spain:

Yep. Yep. Okay. Yeah. Oh, that’s, yeah. That’s that’s that’s interesting sort of innovative use of, technology for for its time, and now we’ve got it we’ve got to use the the the current innovations.

Peter Allington:

Yeah.

Paul Spain:

Oh, it’s that’s been, that’s been really, really, really fascinating sort of, you know, delving in, Peter. Anything else that that that we’ve that we’ve missed that you think, you know, people might be, might be curious about?

Peter Allington:

I just suppose some of the, you know, some of the challenges around it as educating people in the new industry. You know, it’s not just a matter of buying a car and You can plug it in anywhere. So, really, it’s about, you know, assessing the infrastructure and understanding clients’ needs, you know, around the utilization, how you’re gonna charge it, your load management. There’s all these different complex, questions that need to be asked and and need to be solved. So, yeah, it’s all about tailoring that solution to to that individual requirement. Yep. Yep. So, yeah, it’s a big consideration that people need to be

Paul Spain:

Yeah. I guess important not to not to make, you know, make assumptions around what’s gonna be, you know, possible in a given location or given building and and and planning ahead, and and getting the right, yeah, the right sort of things in place. Yeah, I saw the, the building that I think’s been built for, for New Zealand Post in, in Mount Mount Roscoe on the the site of, where where foodstuffs used to be, like, located.

Peter Allington:

Oh, yeah.

Paul Spain:

And, they they’ve got a a very nice, string of EV charges. Yeah. That was one of the first things to to go in before the the the building was even, you know, fully complete was, I think, a line of, you know, of 20 electric vehicle, charges. You know, most of them probably, down, more around that sort of, you know, 7 kilowatt or 7 to 11 sort of kilowatt type, you know, type range, but also some some, you know, some chunkier, faster charging.

Peter Allington:

Yeah.

Paul Spain:

Yeah. Which, yeah. It’s it’s, obviously something that is important you know, to really be considered and and planned for, now with, you know, these these investments going into, Future Buildings

Peter Allington:

and and

Paul Spain:

locations and and how to retrofit the the, you know, the existing, locations.

Peter Allington:

That’s right. Yeah. Whether it’s sort of distance, charging, or destination charging when you say you got a a truck that’s going into city or whether you’ve got the van going from, you know, the depot to to individual sites within the suburb. Different requirements require different size charges.

Paul Spain:

And looks like there’s some maybe even some work that the IRD needs to go into because I I was talked to accountant around sort of different rules for, you know, certain commercial vehicles, you know, can be taken, you know, can be taken home without there being sort of fringe benefit tax. But but normal vehicle of, you know, sort of take it home, then it then it can, you know, trigger that. But, you know, there are there are businesses where the the best place for them to charge their electric vehicles is for somebody to take the vehicle home. Yeah. And to charge that and to bring it back charge the next day because they don’t necessarily have the capability at their location to, to charge those vehicles. So, yeah, another another thing that needs to needs to be addressed with Yep. With the changes. Excellent.

Paul Spain:

Well, thank you very much for coming in. Really great to have you on show. Peter Allington. And, yeah, we’ll we’ll look forward to, delving in, I’m sure, more to this topic in the future. How far off, from what you what you know, what’s been announced in terms of when we’re gonna have, have the charging in place and and, and have these electric, ferries moving around the place. What’s sort of the timeline on on getting them them all, in place.

Peter Allington:

So it’s, we’re looking at having the ferries and the charges delivered and installed by the end of this year, for one of the sites in, Half Moon Bay. Yeah. And then passengers are expected in 2025. Lot of testing and, you know, all that, but it’s looking like passengers 2025.

Paul Spain:

Yep. Yep. It’s good good to see, you know, this work increasing around Around New Zealand. And, yeah. Look forward to the, the the quieter and, less sort of smoky, Fairy Journey Syndrome in the future.

Peter Allington:

Should be a nice, ride.

Paul Spain:

Yeah. Oh, fan fantastic. Well, thanks everyone for joining us, the New Zealand Tech Podcast. Also, this week, we had a news episode, which which Peter joined on as well. So make sure you’ve you’ve caught both episodes in New Zealand Tech podcast. And thank you, of course, to our show partners, to Gorilla Technology, HP, Spark, 2 Degrees, and One NZ. Alright. Thanks everyone.

Paul Spain:

We’ll catch you next week on the next episode.