31 August 2018

During the last week of August 2018, Tauranga hosted Groundswell, a week-long festival of Innovation, and as part of this, PowerSmart ran ‘RACE TO THE FUTURE’ one of the premier events of the week. The day was an opportunity for people to see the latest in energy technology with a particular focus on how energy storage (BESS) is going to reshape the future.

It was a great day, with Cleve Schupp from Tesla, sharing their latest developments including the Tesla semi-truck and new Roadster sports car, with a 0-100 kph in under 2 seconds. Locally Paul Davidson talked about how a Tauranga City Council initiative got over 50 of their staff on e-bikes as a means of commuting. This amounts to about 10% of their workforce getting to work on bikes rather than in their cars. The challenge he put out there was ‘imagine if 10% of all workers biked to work – what would that do for traffic congestion?.’

E-bikes and electric cars were front and centre during the breaks with many people taking the opportunity to try out some of this new technology. UBCO with their 2WB electric bike, plus BMW and our local bike store Cycle Obsession were all showing off the latest battery transport options. The smiles on the faces said it all, as people really enjoyed the new technology.

Another key aspect of PowerSmart hosting ‘RACE TO THE FUTURE’ was to have the opportunity to show off some of the cool projects that we have been working on over the last 12 months. Additionally, it was to explain how collaboration is paving the future for PowerSmart and Vector, enabling both to be more innovative company’s than they would have been individually.

Finally, in the afternoon Callaghan Innovation ran a workshop for local business leaders examining new business opportunities that result from technology shifts. They had some amazing highlights from around the world including bricks that are grown from mushrooms.

Speaker Line-up:

Cleve Schupp – TESLA Marketing Genius
Rogier Simons – POWERSMART Managing Director
Marie-Eve – VECTOR Leader of B2B Growth
Cristiano Marantes – VECTOR Head of Engineering
Paul Davidson – TAURANGA CITY COUNCIL CFO