Electric event great success

New Zealand’s first-ever day of electric motorsport, held at Mike Pero Motorsport Park in Ruapuna, Christchurch, saw electric vehicles (EVs) up against combustion vehicles and a two-lap race with modified electric bikes. EVolocity also featured drags and lap sprints for electric go-karts and motorcycle, while 15 high-school teams competed in a number of challenges, using vehicles they had built during the year. Rob McEwen, who organised the event on November 30, says it has got the EV community buzzing and as well as having an impact on die-hard petrolheads. “I got a call following the event from a Christchurch Ferrari club member blown away with the performance of the Tesla S against the Ferrari and who also took an opportunity to drive a Nissan Leaf couldn’t believe its acceleration off the mark,” he says. EVolocity, which was sponsored by Orion, had three primary goals – to stimulate innovation in the EV sector in New Zealand, demonstrate the performance capabilities of EVs, and encourage young people to pursue studies in science, technology and engineering. McEwen says a number of those who competed are already talking about innovations to improve performances next year, while the school teams are considering building an electric drag car and sourcing mentorship from John Wayland, owner of White Zombie, the fastest electric drag car in the world. “That’s the sort of outcome we were looking for.” Lincoln High School hit the highest speed in the drag race, made the shortest time on the street circuit and notched up the best time in the economy run. Papanui High School won the award for best home-built motor controller, while Christchurch Boys High has the fastest time in the courier run. Geraldine High School was the overall performance winner for its combined courier and economy ranks, and lowest voltage drop. It also took out the titles for best design and show, and social marketing, while the best video award went to Burnside High School. In the open EV category, the winners were best performance, go kart, lap sprints – Brendan White; best design and show, go kart – Powell Fenwick Consultants; best design and show, motorbike – Rob Warrender with Astara, best design and show car – Simon Wilkinson with his electric Ford Falcon ute; best standing sprint and best lap sprint, motorbike: Craig Jerrett and Astara; best standing sprint, car – Steve West in a Tesla S; best lap sprint, car – Steve West in a Tesla Roadster. EVolocity also pitted some high performance combustion cars versus electric cars. The outright winner in the electric-versus-combustion drags was an Audi R8 clocking 12.4 seconds with a Tesla S clocking the best electric time of 12.56 seconds.