Green Party transport plan a ‘step in the right direction’

E-mobility advocates hail the Green Party’s Future of Transport plan as “very sensible for EVs” and “a good starting point”.

“They obviously read our document – we’ve been calling for a bipartisan plan and now the Green Party, National and Labour are talking about changing the fleet to zero-emission vehicles we need more bipartisan discussion,” Drive Electric chair Mark Gilbert says.

“We have the right ingredients, now we just need to make the cake.”

Calling the Green Party’s plan a “step in the right direction”, Gilbert says industry players must become involved in the discussion to “formulate something appropriate for New Zealand”.

Gilbert says aspects of the plan which resonate include introducing some of the government’s former Clean Car Plan into the equation, banning the importation of new fossil-fuelled vehicles from 2030, providing a nationwide Go Anywhere transport pass, and improving e-mobility by establishing a $1.5 billion Cycle Super Highway fund for safe, separated school and commuter cycling routes.

The national transport pass would work on all public transport and provide access to electric car share, e-bike subscriptions and e-scooters in our main cities.

“We need to look at other ways of commuting, including car share, and the changing demand pattern.

“This is moving towards a total mobility solution,” Gilbert says, adding that cars are just one part of it.

EV and sustainability advocate Sigurd Magnusson says the Green Party transport plan “seems very sensible for EV adoption”.

He says it would leverage our renewable energy and power the transition of our vehicle fleet to EVs.

Magnusson explains the plan would also introduce a Clean Car Standard to ensure fuel efficient cars, vans, and utes are brought into the country and it would reduce the cost of electric, hybrid, and fuel efficient light vehicles with a Clean Car Discount. He says the Greens would also introduce a target date linked to the date set by the UK, likely to be 2030, at which point only zero emission light vehicles (cars, vans, and utes) would be able to be imported into Aotearoa.

Other points Magnusson notes include a requirement for new large buildings that include parking to have EV chargers, and to continue current financial support for roadside EV charging stations.