The 'Electric Election': energy policies, side by side
Research overseas has shown that gardening gear can be a gateway drug for electrification. People often start small with a lawnmower or a weed eater, figure out that the tools perform better than petrol equivalents (without the fumes, noise or starting issues), and then they gain the confidence to upgrade some of the larger machines in their home. Mike Casey uses electric Stihl tools on his cherry orchard and he was like a kid in a candy shop at the Fieldays tent looking at all the new electric toys on offer. Just a couple of years ago, Stihl's product manager Phil Needham says it would have been full of petrol products, but now it's mostly batteries. There are still some petrol options for "the diehards", but it's clear where things are heading.
Sales of petrol lawnmowers are definitely falling away across the board, he says; its electric auger for post hole drilling has more grunt that the petrol version; and its largest electric chainsaw is 30% faster than equivalent petrol products.
Casey says his electric weed eater would probably get 1,000 hours of use every year and while he doesn't bother using the leaf blower for the leaves as there are just too many of them on the orchard, he did manage to blow some snow off the solar panels when the price of power was quite high, so it basically paid for itself.
Plenty of election policy dies between campaign launch and coalition agreement. Our Policy Probability analysis series tests which promises are likely to survive coalition politics and implementation realities. Promised changes around today’s subject, solar energy, rate as highly likely to make it through.
Read moreDownloadPoliticians are “too scared” to talk about electric vehicles this election, despite the potential for them to significantly reduce household energy bills. That’s the view of Rewiring Aotearoa chief executive Mike Casey, who spoke about the issue on the latest episode of the Herald’s The Prosperity Project podcast.
Read moreDownloadCould paying for an electric vehicle out of your pre-tax salary make switching more affordable? Mike Casey joins Nadine Higgins on The Prosperity Project to explain his proposal for an Australian-style EV leasing scheme, how it could work through employers and why he believes it would help more New Zealanders cut their transport costs. They also discuss battery life, road user charges, depreciation and charging on longer trips — and when keeping the petrol car already in your driveway might still be the cheapest option.
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