Boutique New Plymouth hotel ready to charge luxury car owners

Wednesday, 12 July 2017

King and Queen Hotel Suites in New Plymouth have installed a charge station for Tesla owners. Hotel manager Daniel Fleming with the charge station.

In the carpark underneath a luxury boutique hotel in New Plymouth lies the future of driving.

The King and Queen Hotel Suites helps recharge guests' wellbeing with fine food and comfortable beds but now it has gone a step further.

The interior of a 2015 Tesla Model S P85D battery power car.

Last month the hotel installed the city's first Tesla electric car charger as an added benefit for guests.

Hotel manager Daniel Fleming said the destination charger was for guests who owned one of the high performance cars.

Ian Wickham with his 2015 Tesla Model S P85D battery power car.

King and Queen Hotel Suites manager Daniel Fleming holds a Tesla destination charger point recently installed at the New Plymouth hotel.

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It was installed at no expense to the hotel, he said.

'Tesla approached us because they want to put them with high quality accommodation at specific destinations.

'We are the first hotel in New Plymouth to have a charging station for Tesla cars.'

The destination charger site at the hotel is one of 30 similar sites in New Zealand for Tesla owners.

Tesla Motors looked for hotels, restaurants, wineries that will match the needs of our customers when making a decision where to install a charging station, a Tesla spokeswoman said.

'The King and Queen matches the location and needs of our customers,' she said.

The power output from the destination chargers is 22kW.

The company website said a home charger would give the car owner up to 80 kilometres per hour of charge while the more powerful supercharger can provide 270km of driving range in 30 minutes.

The actual driving range depended on particular usage and conditions, such as weather, driving style and battery age, the website says.

New Plymouth's only Tesla owner, Ian Wickham, said he congratulated the hotel in accepting Tesla's offer to install the charger.

He would not need to use it himself as he was able to charge his Tesla, a Model S, overnight at home while he slept.

It's convenient for owners of the cars who decide to have a break in Taranaki and don't need to worry where they can recharge the battery, he said.

'The minimal cost of recharging is covered and it's really the convenience of having a recharging station in New Plymouth which will help attract visitors.

'It's like providing Sky TV or free wi-fi, it's another incentive to stay at the hotel.'

Wickham's 50amp home charger can recharge the battery in the Tesla at a rate of 50km an hour, enough to travel 500km after 10 hours charging, he said.

He can comfortably drive from New Plymouth to Auckland without recharging although he sometimes stopped at a Tesla supercharger site at Hamilton to 'top up.'

'I can plug in the charger in less time than I can fill up a conventional car with fuel.'

Wickham had owned the $220,000 Tesla Model S P85D for two years after being on the waiting list for three years.

The New Zealand Grazing Company owner said he drove, on average, around 100km a day, or 2000km-3000km a month.

'The power bill is around $100 a month and I don't pay any road tax until 2020 so the costs are minimal.

'I can also plug into the charger in less time than I can fill up a conventional car with fuel so it's saving me time and money all round.'

He described the energy efficient car 'as an iPad on wheels.'

'Once the price is lowered, which is happening with the next model, there is going to be an awful lot more Teslas on the road.'