State EV pilot buying programme supported

An EV pilot procurement programme for the public sector should be run by the government.

That will help determine how to have 64,000 EVs on our roads by 2021, a select committee investigation into the future of mobility says.

Parliament’s transport and industrial relations select committee has, after an 18-month inquiry, issued 14 recommendations for the government to maintain a productive, safe, environmentally friendly, resilient and affordable transport system, BusinessDesk says.

Expansion of the nation’s EV fleet is seen as a central to meeting environmental concerns, and the committee chaired by MP Jonathan Young wants to see the government develop the pilot procurement programme to support its EV goal. It would need adequate recharging programmes as well.

The recommendation follows the launch of the National Party’s new EV target, which includes having a third of the government’s 15,500 fleet either electric or hybrid by 2021.

Select committee recommendations also include the government developing a programme with a local authority, commercial entity and the transport ministry to develop ‘transport-as-a-service’, where EVs are used in dense urban settings to provide more evidence on their viability. And it wants the government to develop a star-standard system comparing EVs’ all-of-life cost to an equivalent combustion vehicle.

The committee suggests the government encourage the NZ Transport Agency to ensure its assessment framework accounts for new and disruptive technology.

It notes the agency is already considering intelligent transport systems infrastructure and shared mobility.

The committee recommends the government allow the transport ministry and NZTA to engage with foreign transport technology companies to attract innovation. And it suggests the intelligent transport systems technology action plan put New Zealand as a place where new tech is developed and delivered, rather than just tested.

Transport modelling should be reviewed to ensure innovation is captured in future forecasts and that planning regulations can be changed to allow for new systems and services to be adopted, the committee says.