Yesterday, the government confirmed a fleet of new emissions-lowering ideas that it’s considering drafting into law following consultation with industry and the public.
One of these ideas was the notion of bringing in a ‘Cash for Clunkers’-style vehicle scrappage scheme to aid low-income families with transitioning from older vehicles to electrified vehicles.
In brief, those with older cars that meet certain criteria would able to voluntarily hand them over on a ‘buy back’ basis, with the amount of money paid for the car often being well over market value.
The money given is then slated to be used to purchase a new more efficient, less polluting, safer car, while the traded-in car gets sent to the scrap heap.
The Motor Trade Association (MTA) has been a firm supporter of bringing a scrappage scheme to New Zealand, having recommended the idea earlier in the year. In a statement, MTA chief executive Craig Pomare reiterated his support for the idea, while also tipping his hat to the government’s support for biofuels.
“MTA and our members support the Government’s climate change goals,” says MTA chief executive Craig Pomare.
“Within the document we particularly welcome the Government’s recognition that we need a scrappage scheme to make sure all New Zealanders can benefit from the move to low emission vehicles. We are pleased the Government listened to our submissions and we look forward to working with them on the details of the scheme.
“We are also pleased to see the introduction of a sustainable biofuels mandate to reduce emissions from existing vehicles. In our opinion, a significant omission in the work of the Climate Change Commission was that it did not address the removal of old polluting vehicles, or emissions from the existing fleet.”
However, the MTA also notes that it’s “very concerned” by how the government’s announcement was “devoid of detail”. This was a consistent criticism of the announcement yesterday, which did not include information on costings or feasibility for the incentives it cited.
“In the past twelve months we have made submissions to the Climate Change Commission, the Ministry of Transport’s Future Pathways document and multiple other consultations on the subject. It’s about time the ‘rubber met the road’ and we got into the detail of how we are going to make it happen,” Pomare added.
“Overall, the big risk remains, that vehicle transport will become more expensive, as a result New Zealanders will be obliged to keep their already aging cars longer and face a greater risk of involvement in fatal crashes.”
