Nelson councillors support clean car policy 

Nelson City councillors are adopting a clean car policy which will see them ditching gas guzzlers in favour of electric. 

Stuff reports the councillors voted unanimously for the change at a local meeting on December 15. 

It means reimbursement for the cost of using a private car for work travel will end unless the vehicle is zero or low emissions – defined by the government standard as emitting no more than 146 grams of CO2 per kilometre. 

The policy, first proposed by mayor Nick Smith, is set to come into effect on April 1 next year. 

Nelson City Council has 11 electric/hybrid cars out of fleet of 39. 

Elected members will have access to six of these, made up of four electric pool vehicles and two plug in hybrids if they do not have a clean car.

“Transport is the biggest share of NZ’s CO2 emissions at 39% and the greatest potential for reducing it is shifting our car fleet to electric technology,” Smith says.

“Nelson is proudly leading NZ in the uptake of electric vehicles. 

“I made the shift to a 100% electric car with my 2009 Mitsubishi Miev when I was climate minister and it is still going strong.

“Reducing emissions is very difficult in many areas that lack practical technological solutions but the conversion to electric cars in a place like Nelson is a no brainer,” Smith says.