The case for energy loans: read our latest explainer
"Don't wait. Start small, but get into it." Evan Maehl, CEO of Waste Management NZ, certainly hasn't waited when it comes to electrification.
Evan Maehl, CEO of Waste Management NZ, certainly hasn't waited.
The company was an early adopter of electric rubbish trucks, first getting them retrofitted overseas, then retrofitting them its own workshop.
Last year, with over 50 electric rubbish trucks in its fleet, it celebrated reaching the two million electric kilometre mark and, as the shift to electric has gathered pace, the are now able to buy electric trucks directly from manufacturers like Volvo.
In addition to the emissions savings, they're much cheaper to run than diesel trucks (and those savings help offset the higher upfront costs), the drivers (and residents) like them because they're quieter and smoother, and the waste they collect can even be turned into electricity that can charge the trucks the next day.
Sounds pretty bright to us.
Rewiring Aotearoa is in favour of universal Road User Charges as we believe it will address an artificial market distortion for vehicles that is not in New Zealand’s economic, fuel security, or resilience interests. Here's what we told the Select Committee.
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Read moreDownloadOur Political Power series aims to show that going electric is good for everyone, no matter where you sit on the political sprectrum. Whether you're looking to lower costs, reduce emissions or increase resilience, it increasingly makes sense at an individual, community and country level and ACT's Todd Stephenson, who bought an electric Jeep around one year ago and built his new home in Queenstown to run on electrons, is a good example of that.
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