Martinborough Take II - March 2023
This fair, organised by the South Wairarapa Rotary organisation, is touted to be the largest craft fair in the Southern Hemisphere, and the Wellington volunteers of the Better NZ Trust, under the able supervision of Rob Birnie and Graeme Fenemor, were there on the 4th March 2023 displaying a wide range of EVs, and offering chats to the attendees as to the value of switching from ICE to EV.
7 EVs were on display – a Polestar 2, Kia EV6, BYD Atto 3, Mini Electric, Tesla Model 3, Tesla Model Y, and Nissan Leaf with 11 volunteers chatting throughout the event! Of the 15,000 attendees our trustee volunteers reckon they engaged with over 700 – now that’s a lot of talking!
It was a colder day, seeing a mixture of rain and sun tormenting stall holders and fair attendees alike. Consequently, attendance was significantly lower than the February event, but the passion of the volunteers kept the conversations going.
We also had the pleasure of the team at Tesla joining us with a Model Y, enabling attendees to register for test drives and ask questions of the professionals. This partnership worked well, with great collaboration and teamwork between the volunteers and Tesla staff.
The knowledge of fair attendees continues to improve over time, with a reduction in misinformation, however there are still knowledge gaps. Price and range are still important concerns for many, however range anxiety appears to be diminishing as an excuse not to purchase, with an increase in concern about “lack of infrastructure”, probably exacerbated by recent media statements that the infrastructure needs to be increased. Equally, the assumption that EVs are expensive is still prevalent, with many people shocked by the knowledge that shorter range EV’s can be found second hand for as little as $5000.
V2L technology was particularly of interest given recent weather events, and some of the later EV models offer this capability as standard! A great thing for the Trusts volunteers too, as it has enabled hot and cold drinks, and air fried food right at the stand.
Overall, another highly successful event, seeing more myths dispelled in Martinborough!