Electric Autobus, a family business which sells electric buses to New Zealand cities from Timaru to Auckland, wants to offer fast, bookable charging for electric trucks from its new service centre on Ascot Road, Mangere.
The fast chargers, up to 480kw, could roughly half the charge times from most road-side charging stations.
The site on Ascot Road is 200m from State Highway 20A, and in the Auckland Transport Strategic Freight Area with good connections to Auckland Airport, the North and South.
Electric Autobus co-owner Susan Livengood says Susan is keen to hear from any operators who are considering running electric trucks in the area: “It’s not a huge site so we would love some anchor customers who want to charge with us at similar times each day or overnight in our secure yard.
“I’d love to chat with any operators who are curious about going electric. We’re a small business and trying to figure out how much interest there is before investing too much. We’re always happy to share our experience in working with bus operators to electrify their fleets to help other heavy vehicle operators.”
Research by Ipsos for the Ministry of Transport (2024) found that for operators not yet using low‑emission vehicles, the number one opportunity barrier was battery recharging times and queues, cited by 66% of respondents.
Electric Autobus co-owner Susan Livengood said, “We’re keen to offer truck operators a practical way to access fast charging. We want to provide:
- Bookable charging slots (reduced uncertainty and downtime risk)
- Faster DC charging for trucks at lower prices than road-side charging
- Purpose built for heavy vehicles (no car charging) and designed to work with mandatory driver breaks (driver’s lounge with vending machine, bathrooms and a secure yard).
“This would help operators who want to make the change to electric, but can’t afford the chargers or a costly transformer upgrade at the same time as buying the truck. It could also help reduce the trade-off with payload by meaning trucks can use smaller batteries to service their routes.”
The site on Ascot Road is 200m from State Highway 20A, and in the Auckland Transport Strategic Freight Area with good connections to Auckland Airport, the North and South. Susan said: “It’s not a huge site so we would love some anchor customers who want to charge with us at similar times each day or overnight in our secure yard.
“I’d love to chat with any operators who are curious about going electric. We’re a small business and trying to figure out how much interest there is before investing too much. We’re always happy to share our experience in working with bus operators to electrify their fleets to help other heavy vehicle operators.”
Contact Susan at susan@electric-autobus.com or on 021 982321.
