Wellington City Council leading the charge in clean transport

Over the next three days, Wellingtonians can see and ride in electric cars and experience the future of environmentally sustainable transport. A lucky Wellingtonian may even win an electric car for a week.

Three Tesla Model S (full electric), a Mitsubishi Outlander and BMW i3 (plug-in electric/petrol hybrids) left Cape Reinga lighthouse on 6 April. The electric fleet will be stopping off in towns and cities arriving in Bluff 22 April. The convoy is part of a nationwide effort by the Better NZ Trust to educate people about the environmentally friendly, quiet and powerful cars.

Mayor Celia Wade-Brown is looking forward to welcoming the electric fleet to Civic Square today at 11.30am. “Wellingtonians are smart people, enjoying a wide range of transport choices. Cconverting our petrol and diesel vehicles to electric we can slash our CO2 emissions in the city by 21%, and meaningfully reduce climate change.Electric vehicles are responsive, quieter and less malodorous too. Council’s fleet includes a Miev and some submissions on our Low Carbon Plan encourage us to lead by example more extensively.

Besides the cars on the road trip, other electric cars will be on display, including the fully electric Nissan Leaf. The fully electric Renault Zoe hatchback will make it first ever public New Zealand appearance at the Wellington events, adding another choice in the market.

“Wellington has about 150 electric vehicles, most of them purchased in the last year. This number will grow quickly once people have tried them out and experienced how wonderful they are to drive up and down our hills”, says Sigurd Magnusson, an electric car owner and one of the organisers of the road trip.

Electric cars cost between $20,000 and $200,000 and can travel between 120km and 420km depending on the model. Such cars can be recharged conveniently using a standard household socket, or at one of a growing number of public charging stations. Electric cars accelerate more quickly and can climb hills more easily than petrol cars. Instead of fossil fuel, electric cars run on New Zealand generated electricity, which is predominantly generated by renewable energy, and offers significant savings versus fuel costs. EECA calculates electric cars cost the equivalent of just 30c/litre of petrol to drive.

See and ride electric cars over the next three days:

• Friday 15 April from 7am-9am in front of Wellington Railway Station.

• Friday 15 April from 11.30am-1.30pm at Civic Square.

• Saturday 16 April from 11pm-2pm in Lower Hutt outside Dowse Art Gallery.

• Sunday 17 April from 9am-11am at Harbourside Market (near Te Papa).

Those turning up can enter to win a Tesla Model S or a Mitsubishi Outlander for a week.

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