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It may sound weird (and possibly illegal) but electrifying your friends and relatives is a good option, writes Mike Casey.
It's hard to change people's perspectives, but Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey is particularly proud of the fact that he's managed to 'electrify his dad' Simon Casey, who ran as a candidate for the Act Party in the last election.
As he writes in an op-ed in The Post about what he's doing for the planet in 2025, saving money was the main motivation for dad's decision to get an EV, rooftop solar and a battery, but upgrading to electric machines has also chopped his emissions down to almost nothing. Win-win!
Wanting to save money is something most of us have in common and you can save plenty of it by electrifying your life. And if you've already done it, one of the best things you can do for the planet is to follow Mike's lead and electrify your mums, dads, siblings, cousins, friends and grumpy uncles.
"If you succeed, that is one gift that will keep on giving."
Compared to most of our MPs, Scott Willis is a very early adopter. As the latest episode of our 'Political Power' series shows, the Green MP's home in Waitati has had solar panels on the roof since 2013 and he bought a Nissan Leaf in 2016. He runs a full suite of electric gardening gear - which can often be a powerful gateway drug after people see how well they perform - and recently upgraded to a BYD Atto3 with a 60kwH battery.
Read moreDownload“People come up and ask, ‘Are you bribing politicians?’ And my answer to that is, well, I’m bribing them all equally,” he said. Each box was worth close to $90. But Mike said the cherries were less about currying favour and more about opening a cross-party conversation on electrification. “I want it to not be a political hot potato, because I genuinely believe, no matter what side of politics you’re on, electrification is good for the country. From an energy sovereignty, an energy security, an economic and a climate perspective, everybody wins.”
Read moreDownloadAround 150,000 new vehicles are purchased every year in New Zealand and around 60% of them are bought by businesses. We reckon a lot more of them should be electric - both for the benefit of those companies but also to seed the second-hand market - and that could be on the cards now because one of the major barriers to fleet EV uptake has been removed.
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