Early Christchurch Electric Vehicles

The diasporical and widely appreciated The New Zealand Journal has recently featured a short post entitled Christchurch City Council Belt-Tightening?, in which it's wondered if there might be any advantage to the Council ordering up from storage its electric truck fleet from the early 1920s, which could have the advantage of enabling the Council to meet its greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The post includes this Alexander Turnbull Library image by The Press newspaper photographer Samuel Heath Head.


LARGE IMAGE OPENS IN A TAB OR NEW WINDOW
By 1915 the Council's Municipal Electricity Department in Armagh Street was charging car batteries overnight, when cheaper off-peak rates were offered between 10 pm and 7 am. The two 100 Kilowatt generators were driven by a pair of steam engines powered by the Council's refuse destructor. In 1921, at the peak of their popularity, the M.E.D. was charging the batteries of 51 vehicles, of which 40 were privately owned, with the other 11 belonging to the Council. The City Council's Municipal Electricity Department even offered hire-purchase agreements to assist companies and individuals to purchase electric vehicles.


LARGE IMAGE OPENS IN A TAB OR NEW WINDOW
In this elevated westerly view of Bealey Avenue near the Carlton Mill Bridge can be seen the city's entire fleet of electric vehicles. The photograph can be dated to 1926 by the construction of the extent Fleming House at the corner of Park Terrace (Left).


Above: photographed on Park Terrace is the circa 1922 American Walker electric lorry of Wardell Brothers, the Cashel Street Grocers. To the Left is the extant 1915 Summers house. Below: also at the same location is the electric lorry of Sharpe Brothers, aerated water and cordial manufacturers. Both of these photographs were also taken by Samuel Heath Head.



Photo credits:

1926 electric vehicle fleet; Municipal Electricity Department archive, Orion New Zealand Ltd

Sharpe Brothers lorry; Alexander Turnbull Library, reference number: 1/1-011062-G

Wardell Brothers lorry; Alexander Turnbull Library, reference number: 1/1-007411-G

Cultural Exchange

Photographed at Lyttelton on the 9th of March 2009 by Elaine Hardman of Wellsville, New York is about $400 worth of rather tatty BMC Mini, which is about to join another seven in a shipping container, before heading off to the United States of America.

Although we've long held the dubious distinction of being a world leader in the importation of second-hand motor vehicles, we're also a significant source for vintage and classic cars, which can often be acquired here for a fraction of their international value.

The above photograph would appear to indicate that this market is now widening to include small economical cars that we have a tendency to take for granted. Had one a predilection for an eminently useable investment, then it's quite likely that good examples of this trendy genre (in the USA at least) would prove most rewarding.

Note: a very good example of a run-of-the-mill Mini can be purchased on TradeMe for around $5,000, but the same car in a Yankee dealer's yard would currently fetch in the vicinity of four times that price. 

Now let's see, with eight to the box...