Greens: EV campaign needs more juice

The Green Party has simultaneously welcomed government’s campaign to raise the profile of electric vehicles (EVs) while warning that their lack of affordability puts them out of reach.

The party has made it clear that it does not see government’s EV exemption from road user charges until 2021 – which will cost the country $40 million – as being a viable subsidy to make them affordable to Kiwis.

The party’s transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter says the Green Party would make EVs affordable by exempting them from fringe benefit tax, which has the potential to reduce the upfront cost by more than a third.

She adds that it’s “fantastic” so many groups are working to raise the profile of EVs and that government could do so much more to make it easier for more New Zealanders to buy EVs. “New Zealanders want to lead the switch to clean electric cars, powered by local energy, and end our reliance on expensive and dirty foreign oil.”

Treasury described the government’s $6 million contestable EV fund as “low-value spending and a missed opportunity to prepare New Zealand for widespread uptake of low-emission vehicles”.