WEL Networks is delivering on its promise to install an electric vehicle fast charger in Raglan before the holiday season.
Work on the charger began during the week. It is now in place but still has to be connected. WEL Networks is paying for the charger. The charger will be free to use with the power paid for by WEL Networks. Waikato District Council has provided the site for the charger and parking spaces.
WEL Networks Asset Management General Manager Paul Blue said, “The Raglan location will be included in a national EV charging network that can be found on the web or via the cell phone app PlugShare. Once they’re in Raglan the central location will be easy to access, a full charge only takes 15 minutes and it’s free to use.”
https://www.plugshare.com/ currently shows the Raglan charger as ‘Coming Soon’, although a private charger is shown as in use in Greenslade Road. The nearest public charger is at 112 Maui St, Te Rapa, Hamilton.
The parking area between the Town Hall and the Plunket Rooms is currently used by community groups including DJs for Raglan Community Radio. Raglan Radio through the Raglan Community Board asked if car parking lines could be painted in the Plunket carpark? The station manager provided a map of the current parking configuration. Council staff have advised the Community Board that to allow for the best utilisation of this area, “it is proposed that no markings are put in except for the one to identify the electric parking area. This has been discussed with the station manager and he has been provided with a schematic of the proposed parking bay.”
Let’s hope that the electric vehicle charger is more reliable and better maintained than Raglan’s decorative electric lights. When the Community Board pointed out that most of them were dangling down and not working, council staff advised that, “work completed to date was to connect them safely into the lighting column, however the light fittings are not suited to the environment and are subsequently failing. No replacement funding is available within the roading budget.” The decorative lights were put up six years ago and paid for by Meridian Energy. At first they went up just for Christmas, but then WDC decided to save money by not taking them down. They were left up permanently and have failed progressively.
I should say that I agree with council that painting lines in the carpark wouldn’t work out very well – it’s a funny shaped area – and I think we’re better off coming up with our own creative solutions.
Aaron