Going green has just become easier for shire residents after Si Clean Energy installed the first public Ingeteam Garage Electric Vehicle charger to their premises.
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Not just for locals, the service provides an energy point for travellers travelling the Pacific Highway, and it was latter who became the first visitors of Si Clean Energy’s service.
Greg and Janet were on their way home from Brisbane to Sydney driving a Tesla Model S electric vehicle (EV). Due to the location of recharge stations, the first leg of their trip to Brisbane required two overnight stops in order to achieve the necessary battery recharges.
Hoping to reduce the downtime, for the return leg they contacted Si Clean Energy to ask if they had the facility to recharge their Tesla EV thus allowing the trip to be made with one overnight stop.
“We did and we didn’t,” Si Clean Energy’s Lee Bulanyi said.
“We had to this point installed a number of Ingeteam EV charge stations for Renault and Australia Post in Sydney and Melbourne, but not yet at our own facility in Coffs Harbour.
“However, since we held stock of the very EV charge station required, we offered to immediately install one.
“Greg and Janet drove the full distance (around 450km) to our facility and then we dropped our two guests to the Pier Hotel near the Coffs Harbour Marina to enjoy a short stay, while the car charged overnight.”
Next morning, Greg and Janet made their way back to Coffs Harbour’s EV charge station, and drove home.
Lee said to the best of his knowledge this is the first time an EV has travelled non-stop from Brisbane to Coffs Harbour.
”We hope to provide many more such recharges to EV owners as they gain favour as an alternative to internal combustion vehicles,” he said.
“With an extensive solar panel system on the Si Clean Energy facility, the option of daytime EV charging not only means that there is zero running cost in driving from A to B, and that it produces zero pollution in doing.”