EV Salary Boost: it's a pay rise you can drive!
Labour's Jo Luxton, a list MP contesting the East Cape electorate, is next up on our Political Power series, and she's a fair way down the electric path.
The so-called "princess of the provinces" has electric cooking and heating at home, but the hot water still runs on gas.
"I'd love to do solar, but it's got to be affordable , right," she says (it's already affordable because it's the cheapest electricity homes can get, but there's an access issue; here's something we prepared earlier on that www.rewiring.nz/ras).
Luxton did have a fully electric car when she was living in the South Island, but a shift to the East Coast saw her go back to a hybrid as the range (and also the lack of charging infrastructure) meant it was hard to make it around the region. Many newer EVs now with ranges of over 600km, so there's less need to, as we like to say, 'half-ass it with a hybrid' these days.
As for her predictions on what the energy system will look like in 2040, she sums up our dreams pretty well: "I hope there's a whole lot more electric, actually, and I hope that everyone has solar. That would be amazing, right?"
See all our Political Power interviews here ⚡https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2NZIJNQSg6QhkQc8DIdR9JSn0f0zz6zi
Along with taxes, education and health, energy is proving to be a big talking point in the run up to the election .. which is now 33 days away. All the political parties have released some energy policies .. and while they're quite varied in their approaches .. the main focus seems to be bringing down the cost of electricity for us consumers. Our first guest would like electric transport to also be part of the conversation .. he's calling for a 'great EV comeback' and has some ideas about how to make it happen. Mike Casey, Rewiring Aotearoa Chief Executive joins Jesse.
The electric election continues apace! National announced its 'Electrify NZ 2.0 plan' last week and Mike Casey joined Andrew Dickens on Newstalk ZB to talk about the potential for peer-to-peer trading of energy, the roll of solar in lowering power prices, data centres needing to bring their own generation, and the likelihood that all this talk will turn into action.
