Our partnership with Auckland energy company Vector has provided innovative electric vehicle technology to power our students’ light installations at this year’s GLOW@Artweek festival, on Devonport’s Windsor Reserve, 12 and 13 October 2018.
Nine teams of second-year Architecture students will design and prefabricate a diverse range of interactive light installations on Devonport’s Windsor Reserve, working to a zero-waste, zero-budget brief. Students will seek sponsorship for their designs, which will also feature a range of sustainable materials.
With the use of a ‘Vehicle to Home’ (V2H) system, power will be exported from two Nissan Leaf G2 electric cars to provide all the power needed to run the nine different light installations over two days in October. The cars will act as a rechargeable and mobile renewable energy source for the duration of the festival.
The cutting edge V2H technology is new to New Zealand and is not yet commercially available. However, the demonstration at GLOW will show what will soon be possible for EV owners; a portable, rechargeable power source for their own personal use.
The Nissan Leaf Gen2 has a battery capacity of 30kWh
which can provide up to nine hours of power for a typical household.
Architecture lecturer Ainsley O’Connell says, “Our partnership with Vector has added another dimension to the GLOW festival this year. Sustainability is a key factor in the design and construction of the students’ works and having access to an alternative, rechargeable power source in a large-scale outdoor venue is extremely exciting.”
Vector’s New Technology Lead, Moonis Vegdani, says, “Vector is committed to providing innovative new opportunities and ways for people to have more choice, control, and affordability in how they use and manage
energy.
“Two-way EV chargers are an example of the future of energy. They basically transform electric vehicles into mobile storage batteries, enabling energy to be charged or discharged anywhere there is a two-way charger. It’s perfect for a temporary light installation such as GLOW@Artweek.”
This is the fourth year that Unitec students have taken part in the GLOW@Artweek festival which is staged by the Devonport Business Association in conjunction with Artweek Auckland. It was one of the most popular events at last year’s Artweek Auckland festival, attracting 10,000 visitors over two days. 
GLOW@Artweek runs from Friday October 12 to Saturday October 13 in Windsor Reserve. Artweek Auckland runs from October 6-14.
The photos featured are from the 2017 GLOW@Artweek show.