E-rangers on the Port Hills

Christchurch City Council Rangers move towards being ‘e-rangers’ with the arrival of two new electric utes.

The twin cab utes are a new addition for the Port Hills and Banks Peninsula Regional Parks Rangers, joining the fleet of one electric ‘side-by-side’ LUV vehicle and an electric motorcycle.

“These vehicles may look like a standard Park Ranger ute, but they do enable the majority of our daily work – while helping out the environment and incurring reduced operational costs as we do it,” says Head Ranger Port Hills and Banks Peninsula Paul Devlin.

The e-utes can carry a good load, are comfortable for passengers, have no harmful emissions and are quieter than standard ICE utes.

Additionally, the trucks come with a standard 3-pin plug in the truck, allowing Rangers to run electric tools or handheld battery chargers off the trucks battery pack.

“These basic 2WD EV utes with a range of 400km can still do 75% of the things we need ranger trucks to do. Just not off road, in the snow or towing too much,” says Mr Devlin.

“This is also a move towards the Christchurch City Councils Sustainability Policy goals. Add a bike rack and load up our off-road electric motorcycle and patrols almost anywhere are possible!”