Once upon a time—well, in a land of myth and melodrama—a young chap named Icarus got the ultimate upgrade: wings. Handcrafted by his ever-wise (and occasionally overly ambitious) father, Daedalus, these wings were a marvel of ancient engineering, crafted from feathers and wax. Icarus, thrilled by his newfound ability to defy gravity, soared into the sky with the enthusiasm of a kid on a sugar rush.

I came across a post on the socials during a doom scrolling session the other night. Picture below for eventual context. The author had been to a talk by a LinkedIn company exe (I think) and posted their key takeaways from the talk, which really resonated.

In April 2022 we checked in with the team to find out how connected they feel to the Abletech values and ask if they were empowered to live them each day at Abletech. This blog is a summary of the results from the April survey.

In 2021, our CEO Michelle Harvey called for more diversity in tech workplaces. Learn about how our partnership with TupuToa brought this to life.

When presented with some damning statistics on the presence of Māori and Pacific peoples in corporate-sector leadership positions, Abletech was delighted to join a campaign for change.

We all love the satisfaction that comes with solving a problem – especially when it’s a gnarly one. So when we heard about Creative HQ’s Climate Response Accelerator, we couldn’t resist getting involved. Together, we’re helping some of the smartest people in New Zealand to solve some of the biggest climate-related challenges facing our planet.

Māori Language Week helps us all remember that te reo is a cornerstone of New Zealand culture, and an important part of our country’s heritage. Te reo Māori is an official language of NZ. It’s a great time to be part of the broader language revival and raise public awareness and usage. Our participation links with our #TeamValues.

We went wild for our Christmas celebrations and spent a lovely sunny Saturday in Wellington’s green belt at the world’s first Toitū zoo. Wellington’s zoo is officially carbon neutral.

At Abletech we’re proud of our team’s culture. This week we identified exactly what our team values are. It was great! The workshop was facilitated by our GM Michelle. Everyone had a chance to speak and we collaborated to agree on four team values.

Most people with electric cars (EVs) normally need to charge up the battery every 2 or 3 days. If you have a newer car with a larger battery, you might go a week without charging. If you drive longer distances in an older EV, you might need to charge daily.

We were asked: are electric cars able to travel up hills at a reasonable pace, or are they really slow when hard work is required?

Our developers have been to Ruby conferences overseas for years. Having this on home turf made it a good chance to catch up with fellow New Zealand Ruby developers and support the local Ruby community.

Going and Stopping

An irony of the eTrixie project is that VW Beetles are air cooled, but eTrixie’s new motor controller needs water cooling! In part nine we look at ancillary systems such as water cooling the motor controller and the 12v system.

Regan Ryan will give an introduction to Ruby Meta Programming — learn the nuts and bolts of how Ruby works, and begin the meta-programming journey

At Abletech we all work on a variety of projects and tasks, for clients and in-house products.

Elixir is rapidly gaining interest and popularity. Kiwi developers connect online to learn and share tips together via Twitter and the AU/NZ Slack group. Wellington Elixir User Group members get together for Hack Nights.

Our friends over at Addressfinder are looking for a Customer Success Specialist and a Digital Marketer. Feel free to share the opportunities with people who may be interested. Applications close 30 November.

The car’s motor will slow down the car when you take you foot off the accelerator, and the byproduct is electricity which flows back into the battery. Technically termed Regenerative Braking, or Regen, this happens automatically (and silently) while you drive. It’s not something you think about.

There are 3 costs to consider here:

We’ve made a vlog for this final instalment so you can see eTrixie in action. It is a little sad that the work is over, but that said it is also great to be finished because every time I get behind the wheel it brings a huge smile to my face!

My first step of the electric conversion is to take out the petrol engine and the fuel tank. This is a very sad day as we will lose the distinctive VW engine sound, but on the plus side we will be able to hold a conversation while driving!

In this part we’ll talk about high voltage and current cabling, switches and fuses.

My Dad started young with Volkswagens and his father had Beetles too. I sat my drivers licence in a 1963 Beetle, the first car I owned was a ’59 Beetle, and today I have a ’65 Beetle which my eight-year-old daughter loves riding in.