Solar e-bike charging and bike parking at Aotea Square, Auckland

In October 2018 Bikeep's New Zealand partner Big Street Bikers opened its second solar-powered e-bike Rechargery in Aotea Square, in the heart of Auckland. Auckland councillor Chris Darby officially opened it, alongside Big Street Bikers co-founder Andrew Charlesworth.

A first look at the Bikeep dock

Crowds came to try the e-bikes on show. Also on display was a new lockable bike park made by Bikeep, with an e-bike charging port built in. Big Street Bikers planned to roll it out to around 100 locations across the city, so e-bike riders could lock up and top up their battery wherever they were going.

Ending range anxiety

E-bikes were still fairly rare in New Zealand in 2018, but they were catching on fast as a way to get around cities. The biggest worry for new riders was running out of battery with nowhere to charge. A month before the Aotea Square opening, the New Zealand Herald reported Big Street Bikers' plan to put park-and-charge stations on city streets to solve exactly that. The plan started with trial sites on the Ponsonby Road cafe strip and at LynnMall shopping centre in New Lynn.

Big Street Bikers had already worked with the power company Mercury on a solar-powered e-bike station at Viaduct Harbour.

How the docks work

• Lock and charge. A locking bar holds the bike, and riders plug their own charger into the dock to charge while they are away.
• App control. Riders park and unlock with the app.
• Alarm. Every dock sounds an alarm if someone tampers with a locked bike.

Aotea Square today

Aotea Square still has a Bikeep station with e-bike charging, by the Aotea Centre doors under the canopy. It has logged about 1,800 parkings by more than 300 different riders. Ponsonby Central and LynnMall both have Bikeep stations today too.

EVtalk covered the Rechargery opening, and the New Zealand Herald reported on the plans. More on e-bike charging.