We’re currently looking into some nifty things that could help manage electricity demand, environmental impacts and could even save you some money.
If you're a Contact customer with an EV, fill out our quick survey:
We'll ask you a few simple questions to see if you're eligible and keen to take part in an upcoming trial.
If selected, you’ll even get rewarded for your input! T&Cs apply.
EV Flex is managed EV charging.
We use technology to talk to your EV and tell it the best time to charge and for how long while always making sure you have a car charged to 100% when you need it.
For example, you get home from work at 6pm and plug in your EV, knowing you need a 100% charged car ready for 6am the next day. However, the technology is clever enough to see your car only needs 4 hours of charging. So… it waits until 2am to start charging, all ready for you to go at 6am!
Using electricity from 2am – 6am instead of from 6pm is usually more sustainably generated electricity which is great for the environment. Plus, you might find a plan like Good Charge might be really well suited to you and you could be in for some savings (dependent on your current plan).
When we’re all using power at the same ‘peak’ times (like first thing in the morning and again in the early evening), New Zealand often has to draw on electricity generated from non-renewable sources like coal, gas and diesel to meet demand.
If more power usage can be shifted to off-peak times, or less used during the peaks, we could reduce our reliance on non-renewable energy generation.
Sometimes the car maker hasn’t enabled the connectivity in New Zealand, or you have an older EV that doesn’t have the right technology. Also because it’s starting as a trial only, there’s a few types we haven’t included just yet.
If your EV doesn’t currently fit the bill, feel free to leave your details with us here and we’ll let you know if anything changes. We’d love to know who’s interested to help inform further trials.
You tell us what level of charge you need and by what time and we will sort the rest. If your requirements change, you can let us know here.
If you need to charge your EV immediately, you can easily override any instructions you’ve given us via the mobile app for your specific vehicle (e.g. if you have a BMW, use the BMW EV app to instruct your EV to charge there).
Your EV will charge at the same speed as per your normal charging, EV flex has no impact on this.
Your actual charging speeds are subject to variables like hardware and temperature and will depend on your EV and charger type. This is no different to when you manually charge your EV yourself.
Simply respond to some quick questions here, and we’ll contact you if you’re eligible and check you still want to take part. We plan to run this trial for around three months.
We’ll run more trials too. If you don’t make it this time and meet the eligibility criteria, we’ll do our best to get you into the next one.