Improvements sought to EV data system

Changes are sought to the EV registration process especially around emissions data after one EV dealer reported hiccups with the system.

Henry Schmidt of Autolink EVs says the system is “a total mess” after he was advised EVs he was attempting to register would incur a $3000 fee rather than a rebate, and that the whole procedure was leading to delays in registering and delivering his EVs.

Another EV dealer, Hayden Johnston of GVI Electric says that on the other hand he’s had no real issues with the Clean Car Discount for registrations – including emissions requirements – and has already delivered nearly 40 EVs so far this month.

Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association (VIA) policy analyst and advisor Kit Wilkerson says he’s looking into issues raised not just by Schmidt.

Wilkerson says problems involve the national Motor Vehicle Register which doesn’t always account for vehicle variants, although he says in some cases the emissions field is not being used correctly.

He says a Nissan Leaf variant imported to New Zealand should have had “zero” entered in the document’s emissions field when it was left blank, which may have contributed to the issues.

Those variants then defaulted to a maximum penalty (about $3000).

Wilkerson says Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency fixed the issues but that the MVR data is still deficient in some areas.

“VIA has been working with the NZTA to help clear up the data system and we’ve offered to provide information from our own data base of about 65,000 variants (for Japan-sourced models).”

Wilkerson also adds that some imported used EVs are “newer” than most new cars and allowances need to match them better, even though they are generally first registered in the country of origin, such as Japan.

While the issues may concern one EV dealer being at the forefront of change, Wilkerson says aspects around the data system still need to be tidied up.

More information to come.