Electric Vehicles will drive low emissions future

The Emissions Reduction Plan released today confirms the future of mobility in New Zealand will be electric. 

Drive Electric Chair Mark Gilbert says, “If you watch the global automotive market – we’ve been seeing for some time that EV technology will replace petrol and diesel cars. This may happen faster than you might think. 

“Drive Electric welcomes the Emissions Reduction Plan released today by the Government. However, the time for talking is now well over. It’s time to get on with executing the plan and removing emissions from transport. 

“As such, we would love to see broad support across parliament for the transport provisions in this plan to create certainty for business and consumers. 

“Most of the manufacturers have made some form of commitment to going completely electric as have many countries, including the UK. Today signals that New Zealand wants to be part of that transition, and avoid becoming a dumping ground for dirty second-hand vehicles from other markets.

“This makes so much sense for a country with our access to renewable energy. EVs will drive down the costs of owning a vehicle and give New Zealand more energy independence. The world around us today shows how important that will be.

“We are pleased to see other key initiatives that we have been advocating for are included in the plan:

• The completion of a national charging infrastructure strategy
• A vehicle scrappage scheme
• A social leasing programme
• And the investigation of extending the Clean Car Discount to other vehicle types.

Some key stats:

• In New Zealand right now there are more than 70 models of new EVs available.
• EV registrations are up 38% from last year (March 2021 to March 2022).
• In April, 39% of all vehicles sold were an EV, PHEV or a hybrid. (MIA, May 2022) 
• Globally, more than $400 billion has been invested in the EV sector in the last decade. (McKinsey, April 2022).