National makes election pledge to buy 5000+ EVs

The National party has promised it will make one in three vehicles in the government fleet electric or plug-in hybrid by 2021 – should it be returned to power.

As the plan is a party pledge rather than government policy, transport minister Simon Bridges and climate change minister Paula Bennett released the news as party spokespeople rather than ministers. Bridges and prime minister Bill English publicly released it at the ChargeNet station in Lower Hutt this afternoon.

“We already have an ambitious target of having 64,000 electric vehicles in New Zealand by 2021,” Bennett says. “We want the public sector to lead by example, so we are setting a hard target of one in three electric or electric hybrid vehicles in the government fleet by 2021.”

“National knows that electric vehicles are the future. A move from petrol and diesel to low emission transport is a natural evolution, and it is our aim to encourage that switch sooner.”

There are around 15,500 vehicles in the government fleet, including organisations like the Department of Conservation, Corrections, Housing New Zealand and District Health Boards. Meeting the target would require the purchase or lease of a little over 5000 vehicles. At the moment, only 40 are plug-in.

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Bridges notes the cars will ultimately flow to the public through the secondhand market.

“Electric vehicles purchased in the Government fleet will flow through to the secondhand market, which is essential for increasing uptake and incentivising more charging stations,” he says.

“Since we launched our Electric Vehicles Programme in May 2016, the number of electric vehicles registered in New Zealand has grown from about 1300 to more than 4200, which shows our approach is working.”

Pic and video thanks to Sigurd Magnusson