Government fleet to be one third electric in four years

Stuff reports:

The National Party has pledged one in three cars in the Government’s fleet will be electric by 2021.

The announcement was made by Prime Minister Bill English in front of a charging station outside the The Dowse Museum in Lower Hutt on Saturday. 

Currently the Government has a fleet of about 15,500 cars, and Transport Minister Simon Bridges said the transition will help achieve the “ambitious target of having 64,000 electric vehicles in New Zealand by 2021”.

“Electric vehicles purchased in the Government fleet will flow through to the second hand market, which is essential to increasing uptake and incentivising more charging stations,” said Bridges. 

The change in fuel costs mean the shift should come without any significant cost to the Government, he said.

I like policies that don’t cost taxpayers. And having the Government commit to basically 5,000 electric vehicles over four years will lead to more charging stations which is key.

Our next vehicle probably won’t be electric (will probably be a second hand one that has room for strollers, portable costs etc) but the one after that probably will be.  Or even better by then we’ll be using car sharing.

“On average an electric vehicle is the equivalent to buying petrol at 30 cents a litre, compared to petrol which is about $2.”

The Prime Minister shared with the crowd that had gathered his “light bulb moment” when he first got into an electric car on a visit to Australia. 

“One thing that struck me is how quiet they are, but also how powerful they are,” English said.

I had an BMW i3 for a few days and incredibly quiet.