UnitedFuture welcomes EV Bill

The first reading of the Energy Innovation (Electric Vehicles and Other Matters) Amendment Bill, has been welcomed by UnitedFuture’s Peter Dunne, the minister of internal affairs.

The bill seeks to create a better regulatory environment to harness electricity innovation and electric vehicle (EV) ownership in New Zealand.

UnitedFuture’s policy on EVs is to establish an annual grant of $5 million to encourage investment in EVs and charging stations across the country.

The party’s EV grant would allow up to $5000 to be claimed or up to 30% of the cost of a vehicle or charging station, whichever is smaller. It would further apply to businesses which claim to replace company cars with EVs. Businesses would be able to claim funding in order to set up EV infrastructure, such as charging stations.

“We do believe that this legislation and the policy direction we are seeing backs UnitedFuture’s calls for a more direct investment in EV ownership,” says Dunne.

He reiterates that for energy transformation to occur there must be incentives to purchase an EV and invest in energy efficient transport.

“Our policy aims at making the choice to go electric easier for New Zealand families and creates the motivation to build critical mass of fast charging stations and EVs across the country,” adds Dunne.