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"We've lost the cops!" In our next instalment of Political Power, we managed to get David Seymour, deputy prime minister and leader of the Act Party, behind the wheel of a Zeekr 7x when he was in Queenstown recently. As is often the case when people take a new EV for a spin, there was much chortling as he gave it heaps up the Remarkables ski field road - and, if we take him at his word, we might even see him give Mike Casey's tractor heaps up Parliament steps in the future.
The Act Party is a big fan of efficiency. And Seymour, the first electrical engineer in Parliament, knows all about the efficiency of electric machines. That is extending into his home life.
For a busy man like him, it's important to be able to cook his bacon rapidly and induction certainly does that. He also says "heat pumps are a modern miracle" and he even has a heat pump drier.
His favourite electric thing is his e-bike, which he paid $2,600 for in 2016 and has got a huge amount of value out of. He was also given a plug-in hybrid and, while he lives beside a volcano and has a few big trees nearby, Casey has promised to do the numbers on solar for his place.
Seymour says there are people who say you're woke if you use these kinds of technologies, but he has always been in favour of technology and a believer in the "if it works, do it" theory.
"The more technology you have, the better life you can live ... We should want this."
What he doesn't like is people who buy something to make a statement, like Tesla owners who put an anti-Elon sticker on the back.
"That's woke virtue signalling."
When he was a kid, he wanted a remote control airplane but they needed a petrol engine back then. The batteries were too heavy and didn't hold enough energy. Now every second kid has got a drone because batteries are better, cheaper, lighter and can hold more energy. And that's what is happening with all these other electric technologies, too.
While Seymour isn't into subsidies and picking winners, he is a fan of cutting red tape.
"So why is it so much easier to put solar on the roof in Australia than it is here?"
Act's Brooke van Velden, who Seymour says is his greatest political achievement, recently removed some red tape when WorkSafe guidance was changed so work EVs can be charged at home.
So will we see a Zeekr with his face on it as we head into the election campaign?
"As long as president Xi isn't listening, then yeah, sure!"
"We've lost the cops!" In our next instalment of Political Power, we managed to get David Seymour, deputy prime minister and leader of the Act Party, behind the wheel of a Zeekr 7x when he was in Queenstown recently. As is often the case when people take a new EV for a spin, there was much chortling as he gave it heaps up the Remarkables ski field road - and, if we take him at his word, we might even see him give Mike Casey's tractor heaps up Parliament steps in the future.
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