He's a big evangelist for EVs and bought his Hyundai Ioniq around six years ago. While the range isn't huge, it gets him around his relatively small electorate and there are plenty of charging spots around when he needs them.

He also has solar on the roof (and he's a big evangelist for that, too), so that powers a lot of his driving, as well as his electric hot water and heating.

He has done environmental work in the Amazon and is a member of the Blue Greens, the environmental wing of the National Party, so he says he's always been "a big believer in trying to adopt these environmentally approaches, and get emissions down so we can all benefit."

He says the Blue Greens are about practical environmental policies that also stack up economically, and going electric fits that philosophy.

But it's crucial that we make it more affordable for New Zealanders to take up those options and get past the high upfront costs of upgrading, something that's looking increasingly likely with the broad political support for the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme.

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