In January last year we announced, based on the WCB briefing papers for that month’s meeting, that the Tutere Street Spark phone booth was getting an electric vehicle charging point.

This communication yesterday from the council states that it didn’t prove to be feasible (without saying why):

… there is a slow charger at the GWRC Park n Ride, which was put in as a trial for the Spark Plug Project — where EV chargers were to be put in phone boxes — which included the Tutuere St phone box. Unfortunately this project proved unfeasible and didn’t progress beyond the charger at the Park n Ride. This ‘Kāpiti Horowhenua Electric Roads’ project is essentially replacing the Spark Plug Project. It is a partnership between KCDC, HDC, Electra and ChargeNet which received funding from EECA to put in 9 fast chargers across Kāpiti and Horowhenua. These are considerably more efficient that the Spark Plug slow chargers. The Community Board would like feedback on people’s preference for a site for the charger. Happy to answer any questions, e-mail Sustainable.Communities@kapiticoast.govt.nz

The web Survey Monkey questionnaire — which simply asks if you think it should be in Tutere Street or in the GWRC carpark — is here

It’s not clear how fast a ‘fast charge’ time is relative to a ‘slow charge’, but the obvious choice for it is Tutere Street as those who visit the beach are likely to be staying there for shorter durations than those who use the Park n Ride in the Town Centre.