Back in 2015, Bishop was offered a ride in an electric car by one of his constituents and the editor of the local paper was tagging along. Bishop loved it and the editor asked if he would commit to buying electric car when he was next in the market, so when he said yes, he was on the record.

When he pranged his 'thrashed Corolla', he upgraded to a Nissan Leaf in 2018 and he's done around 100,000km around the Hutt South electorate since then. Like almost 100% of EV drivers, he says he'd "never buy another petrol car".

After his partner's car basically stopped working, she bought a new MG EV, which is a bit bigger than the Leaf and better suited to two kids and longer trips.

Bishop says more people are recognising the cost savings of driving on electrons. But there are other benefits and he often tells people that when you plug your car in overnight you're basically pumping in wind, water, the sun or geothermal energy, unlike some other countries that have less renewable grids.

"In New Zealand it makes so much sense."

Bishop's house, which was built in 2023, is also fully electric, from the water heating to the cooking, and he's also looking at installing solar.

He says that cheap, abundant energy should be a competitive advantage for New Zealand and "it will be a big part of our story in the next few years". He says the Government is trying to bring more of that onstream with changes to the planning system.

Just yesterday, it announced a loan scheme for businesses that clearly shows there's no future for gas in New Zealand. When it comes to transport, there is also no future for expensive, imported oil, yet this Government has mostly removed policy aimed at growing the electric fleet, watered down things like the roll out of fast chargers, and proposed removing the Clean Car Standard.

We're certainly not quite ready to anoint Chris Bishop as the Archbishop of Electrification just yet. But there are a few ideas in front of him that, if enacted, could change things, such as low-interest loans for electric upgrades through the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme, a salary sacrifice scheme that could get nurses, teachers and essential workers into a new EV for $200 a week or less (including charging, tyres and maintenance), or accelerated depreciation and fringe benefit tax relief to get more EVs into the second hand market.

With an electric ferry just down the road from his house, electric trains, a solid electric bus fleet and a beautiful new shared path, Wellington is doing pretty well on the public and active transport front. But many New Zealanders who still need a car are caught in a transport poverty trap, struggling to cope with the massive fuel price rises and having to choose between things like travel and food. More EVs running on New Zealand-made Energy would help reduce that burden.  

See all the previous interviews here ⚡

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