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The conflict in Iran and resulting energy crisis marks a permanent shift for New Zealand’s reliance on imported fossil fuels, an electrification advocate says.
Kiwibank Sustainable Business Leader of the Year 2026 and chief executive of Rewiring Aotearoa Mike Casey tells Q+A New Zealanders’ interest in electric alternatives have soared in the past few weeks as the price of fuel continues to ratchet up.
Last week was the biggest week for electric vehicle sales since the week before the Clean Car Discount was scrapped in 2023.
Down on Casey’s fully-electric cherry orchard in Central Otago, his neighbour has been talking about borrowing his electric tractor if the diesel price continues to rise.
“I think more and more New Zealanders are starting to realise the future of everything is in New Zealand-made energy,” he said.
Casey said New Zealand is home to 10 million machines that are reliant on imported fossil fuels, and not all of them are ready to make the change to electricity.
There's a fair bit of money sloshing around the rural sector at the moment and we've been trying to convince more farmers to spend some of it on solar and batteries - and for the Government to change the rules so that more farmers can play a role in the energy system. Matt Luscombe, the CEO of FarmGen, is helping with that.
Read moreDownloadRewiring Aotearoa's policy director Dave Karl tells Newsroom's Jonathan Milne that the RAS works in different ways for different councils. “All those numbers are intentionally conservative. The strategic advisory group noted to ministers they consider they are conservative. From my perspective, the Impact loans assumptions are particularly conservative. These uptake assumptions were made a year ago, before energy bills became more front and centre cost of living and before wider awareness around solar really gained momentum.”
Read moreDownloadMānawatia a Matariki! If you're near Queenstown, register for Bright Night and you'll get to see Glow-Tato Bites cooked by a car, lit-up bikes and an EV light show; our energy nerd dreams have come true and we now have an 'electric election' on our hands; New Plymouth District Council see solar sense; a Pastor in Papua New Guinea does too; Kea Aerospace's solar-powered flight gets some glorious shots; and a real perpetual motion machine.
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