‘Stunning opportunity’ in home-grown fuel

‘Stunning opportunity’ for Kiwis and Country in home-grown fuel

New Zealand’s electricity is among the greenest in the world and provides the ideal platform for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles, says Mighty River Power CEO Fraser Whineray.

“New Zealand is the envy of the world with close to 80% of our electricity coming from renewable sources like hydro, geothermal and wind – Australia has 10%, United States 13% and Germany just 26% renewables.

“There is a stunning opportunity and a huge incentive for us to plug our cars into this home-grown fuel.

“Substituting electricity for petrol makes sense for this country, full stop. It’s a fraction of the cost for consumers, and clearly better for the environment.”

Mr Whineray said New Zealand was currently eroding export earnings and unnecessarily impacting the environment with the country’s large reliance on imported fossil fuels.

“Imagine our Kiwi exporters standing on the end of the wharf having just sold their wonderful goods and shipped them off, only to throw that money at visiting oil tankers.

“Shifting all our cars in New Zealand to electricity would save more than three billion litres of imported fossil fuel, more than $4 billion at the pump, every year. That fuel bill is more than three times the size of our annual wine exports or about half of New Zealand’s total tourism earnings. And it’s all paid for in hard-won Kiwi cash. As a country we can strengthen the resilience of economy and energy independence.”

With the rapid changes in electric vehicle (EV) technology, new models now available and the ability to charge most from a standard 3-pin plug, he said New Zealand’s largely renewable electricity supply was a powerful point of difference – but currently fuelled only about 300 cars out of the national passenger fleet of 2.8 million.

Electric vehicle running costs are about a quarter of the price of petrol for a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and about seven times cheaper for pure electric. They easily cover the average driving range in New Zealand on a single charge. Every electric vehicle on the road, powered by renewables, would take more than two tonnes of carbon out of our environment.

Mr Whineray said the Government already appeared to be recognising the opportunity of home-grown fuel in bringing together the Energy & Resources and Transport portfolios in the new Cabinet. New Zealand has sufficient consented renewable generation ready to build to power every car with electricity, he said.

Mr Whineray launched Mighty River Power’s ‘Take Charge’ challenge at Company’s Annual Shareholders’ Meeting yesterday encouraging private and public fleet managers, rental car companies, car parks and hotels to lead the way in supporting the uptake of EVs – “a sustainability initiative that is real”.

He said UMR research commissioned by Mighty River Power showed a large appetite for EVs among New Zealanders, with a third of respondents who were planning on purchasing a vehicle in the next 10 years saying they would consider buying an electric vehicle.

“Some people may see electric vehicles as a vision for the future – but we see the opportunity to Take Charge today.” Mr Whineray said he was encouraged to see the increase in EV registrations in the past six months, and New Zealand’s largest shopping centre, Sylvia Park, launching free charging stations last month. Mighty River Power has committed to converting every practical vehicle option (more than 70%) of the Company’s fleet to electric vehicles/PHEVs by 2018 as their current leases expire, with both an economic and environmental pay-back.

EECA ENCOURAGING OTHERS ON EV CONVERSION

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) Chief Executive, Mike Underhill, said the majority of new vehicles come into New Zealand as fleet vehicles, which means the purchase decisions of fleet buyers would have a significant impact on New Zealand's private vehicles in a few years' time.

“That's why it's so significant that Mighty River Power has decided to transform their fleet,” Mr Underhill said.

“We hope other New Zealand companies follow their lead. New Zealand is uniquely placed to reap the benefits of electric vehicles. It will give us the opportunity to significantly reduce our reliance on imported fossil fuels, make the most of our abundant natural resources in the form of renewable electricity, reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality."

Mr Underhill said the average daily commute for drivers in urban centres of 22km was easily achieved by a fully electric vehicle and most of our homes have off-street parking, making the overnight charge “as easy as charging our phones”.

"I am really impressed to see one of major electricity companies taking the initiative on electric vehicles. I congratulate Mighty River Power."

ENDS

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