1. Electric vehicles in New Zealand
Clem Arlidge
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
New Zealand

2. New Zealand’s Carbon Challenge
New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions

3. NZ imports $4 billion of oil per year
Nearly half of it goes into our private vehicles.
This impacts our national and commercial interests.
The value of Petroleum and Products imports for the 12 months ending August 2016 was $4.2 billion (for comparison, to the 12 months ending 8/2015 it was $6.3 billion). Data from Stats NZ.

4. The EV opportunity Transport energy use
Road transport 17% of NZ’s overall emissions
Transport energy use

5. What is the opportunity?
NZ’s abundant renewable energy means NZ EV drivers create 80% fewer emissions than petrol or diesel drivers
Sufficient consented renewable generation projects to cover demand even if the entire fleet was electric
New Zealand’s 230V system enables EV charging from existing domestic/office electricity supply
Public charging points are being installed at shopping malls, petrol stations, hotels, tourist attractions ....
95% of daily travel demand is for distances less than 120 kilometres, which is within single charge range of current EVs

6. Government’s EV Programme – It’s about accelerating uptake!
Electric Vehicles Programme announced on 5 May 2016
Set a target, along with private sector and local government, of doubling the number of EVs every year, to reach 64,000 by 2021
Programme will help to address barriers to EV uptake, including
limited supply of models in NZ
lack of public awareness / misconceptions
lack of widespread public charging infrastructure

7. Lots of different parts of government involved
Ministry of Transport
EECA
NZ Transport Agency
Establishing and convening the Leadership Group
Nationwide information and promotion campaign $1m per year
Supporting the development of public charging infrastructure
Regulatory changes to implement the RUC exemptions for light and heavy EVs
Establishing and administering the contestable fund for low emission vehicles – up to $6m per year
Regulatory changes to enable EVs to use bus and transit lanes
Working with ACC to review and potentially amend the ACC levies payable by PHEVs
MBIE NZ Government Procurement
MBIE Energy Markets Policy
IRD
Leading Government EV procurement initiative
Co-ordinating aspects of EV package requiring legislative changes
Reviewing and potentially amending the depreciation rate and/or FBT for EVs

8. EECA - Contestable Fund – Towards a Low Emissions Future
Contestable fund of up to $6m p.a to encourage and support innovative low emission vehicle projects ($4m for 2016/17)
Fund opens for applications mid September
First round closed 17 October
Panel being established that will consider applications, and make recommendations to the EECA board for approval
Fund applicants required to have a minimum level of co-funding
Examples of the types of projects that would be considered as fitting with the investment focus for 2016/17 include:
creation and promotion of branded tourism routes using EVs
shared EV fleets
Some interest from rental car operators already
More information at

9. EECA – EV Information Campaign
$1m p.a for a nationwide electric vehicle information and promotion campaign
Campaign objectives
Raise awareness of, and normalise EVs
Address informational barriers, and common misconceptions
Position EVs as cool and fun (key success factor in overseas markets)
Key campaign elements
Overarching EV campaign look & feel, unifying public and private sector activity
Creation of EV web portal for EV information seekers,
TV advertisement – due for launch 23 October
Community outreach programme – creating opportunities/events for the general public to see, ride or drive an EV, with exposure to current EV owners (another key success factor)
IDEW – International Drive Electric Week

10. Consumer engagement Over 50 events across NZ during the week
Largest number of events outside the US
Taking EVs to the people with a focus on see, ride and drive
Australasia’s largest ever EV rally: 100 EVs at MOTAT on Sunday
Partnership between EECA and the Better NZ Trust/Leading the Charge
Supported by IDEW partners including business and local government who are helping spread the message with their own networks and making EV related announcements during the week to add to the buzz

11. Where can I charge? – public charging infrastructure
images from
Research shows most EV drivers to date charge at home anyway but those with rental cars will need to know!

12. Leading the Charge
BMW New Zealand and Charge Net recently announced a joint-venture 'electric highway'.
The partnership will establish 100 DC-fast-charging stations that will enable a pure-EV to drive all the way from Kaitaia to Invercargill. Charge Net already operates 20 such stations; the next 80 will be completed by the end of next year.

13. Private sector fleet commitment
Photo courtesy of EV Talk
Over 30 of NZ’s largest companies have committed to changing at least 30% of their fleet to EVs over the next three years – at least 1,450 EVs
The initiative is driven jointly by Air New Zealand and Mercury, with the support of Westpac, and includes Fonterra, Spark, Vodafone, Foodstuffs, AMP, Xero, The Warehouse, Waste Management, LeasePlan, SG Fleet, Custom Fleet, Turners Cars, Hyundai, BWM, Giltrap Group…

14. Private sector seizing the opportunity – some headline fleet purchases
Air New Zealand
replacing 75 conventional vehicles with EVs
annual saving of 65,000 litres of fuel
Mercury
plan for 70% of fleet to be electric by 2018, significant progress already
NZ Bus
$45m agreement with Wrightspeed to repower trolley buses with turbine hybrid drivetrain
Waste Management
commenced converting entire light fleet of 200+ vehicles to electric
investigating conversion of 800 vehicle heavy fleet

15. What are we seeing? - Rapid and accelerating growth in NZ EV fleet
1,789 new and used EVs in NZ to end of August