Leaders urged to take action on e-mobility

Greater leadership and bolder decisions are needed to advance e-mobility in New Zealand.

That’s the view put by a panel of experts in EV subscription to about 150 people at the two-day eworld conference at The Trusts Arena in West Auckland.

The panel included Zilch, Carbon Asset Management and Sustainable Fleet Finance co-founder and director Kirsten Corson, Carbon Sense founder and political economist Kathleen Bell, UBCO electric utility bikes founder Timothy Allan and Mercury energy futures manager Buddhika Rajapakse.

Subscription avoids the need to own a vehicle with all costs normally faced by a car owner covered.

Nearly all in the panel are involved in subscription in some way, several saying it’s another form of e-mobility which is growing rapidly but that a “culture of car ownership” needs to be overcome.

The panel considered mobility as a service (Maas), and the fact that people often now use multiple modes of transport such as e-bikes, e-scooters, public transport and more.

Discussion included building or restructuring city centres to provide for more e-mobility, with less parking spaces and the likelihood of fewer cars with transport changes and people working from home.

Corson was among those saying they’re unconvinced EV subsidies will be the complete answer – adding Auckland is expected to have another two million people by 2030 which would probably bring another 500,000 cars unless changes are made.

“We have to think about other forms of micromobility to achieve carbon targets”.

Allan says regulations need to change and be simplified to allow for subscription services, for example.

Asked by moderator and ITSNZ vice president and Young Transport Professionals co-founder Armin Guttke about electricity supply for increased e-mobility, the panel expects more to come from wind farms and geothermal sources – especially as a cheaper source.

Rajapakse says the electricity sector is experiencing dry conditions affecting hydroelectric power generation which had forced the use of diesel and coal to top up supplies – but that wind and geothermal are expected to fill the gap and ensure New Zealand moves to full renewable energy generation.

The use of EV batteries in providing vehicle-to-grid (V2G) to supplement power supply and incentivising owners to charge their EVs at “right” times were also discussed.

The conference also heard from Tourism Holdings Limited chief executive Grant Webster about transforming fleets and business to become “future fit”, outlining THL’s move to EVs and sustainability.

TransNet NZ e-mobility manager Glenn Inkster explained how the increased demand for charging is being met, adding that large roof spaces may eventually be rented out for solar use.

Fisher and Paykel Healthcare sustainable transport committee chair Geoff Bold talked about the huge increase in staff EV uptake and how charging stations were developed to cope.

Battery Industry Group (BIG) chair Juhi Shareef then covered the development of a circular economy for end-of-life EV batteries, expected to last years as stationary energy storage batteries and other functions, being repurposed and eventually being recycled.

She warns a “tsunami” of e-waste may be coming with New Zealand among the worst of OECD countries for e-waste at about 20kg per person annually.

Shareef explained how BIG is working toward reducing the e-waste stream and recycle battery elements.

Kiwi rally ace Hayden Paddon closed the May 6 first day conference talking about the development of Paddon Rallysport’s Hyundai Kona Electric rally car project.

The May 7 final day of the conference starts with transport minister Michael Wood talking about decarbonising New Zealand, followed by MIA chief executive David Crawford outlining opportunities for organisations to introduce EVs into their fleets, further panel discussions and case studies around electric buses, e-ferries, fleet optimisation and more.

May 7 is also a trade day while May 8 is a public open day with many new EVs on display – including the Hyundai Ioniq 5, the Harley-Davidson LiveWire, and a variety of e-bikes and other e-mobility, along with solar power and smart metering for homes and businesses.

EVs and Beyond also has a stand at the expo.

Registration to visit the trade day and public expo is free and available at https://www.conferenz.co.nz/events/eworld-2021/tickets