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"We’ve got fuel prices climbing towards four dollars a litre. We’ve got global instability, supply lines under pressure, and once again New Zealand is sitting here — exposed. But what’s different this time…it’s the reaction."
Because when you start hearing voices — strong voices, credible voices — saying this is the turning point… we have to pay attention.
Take Mike Casey — Kiwibank Sustainable Business Leader of the Year 2026 — not some fringe thinker, not some dreamer — a guy running a fully electric cherry orchard in Central Otago, and a big one.
And here are the facts he’s putting on the table:
New Zealand has around 10 million machines currently reliant on imported fossil fuels.
But about 8.5 million of those could be electrified today — right now — with the technology we already have.
That only leaves about 800,000 that still need diesel long-term.
So the idea that we can’t do this is just not true.
Cooking with cars at Fleet Days; 'the best petrol car has already been built, but EVs keep getting better; New York looks to improve air quality and reduce noise by electrifying its 20,000 food carts; Kea Aerospace announces a new facility to build its Atmos 2 solar-powered plane; 'green steel' gets closer with Glenbrook's electric arc furnace and local start-up Cullbeck setting up alongside; the pros and cons of replacing lithium with sodium in batteries; and 'aquavoltaics' could be a thing as a massive project in China combines an offshore solar farm with a fish farm.
Read moreDownloadPeople could find out more about potential savings and other ways to power their homes and vehicles with electricity at a first-of-a-kind community event in Nelson, supported by electrification advocacy organisation, Rewiring Aotearoa. The charity’s CEO Mike Casey said people who switched to rooftop solar currently stood to save more than $1000 net a year on their electricity bills, wherever they lived.
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