Qiulae Wong recently became leader of The Opportunity Party and, as she tells Mike Casey in the second episode of our new series Political Power, she has been on the electric bandwagon for a while now.
When she and her partner returned from London, they looked a getting a hybrid but instead bought a Tesla with an assist from the Clean Car Rebate; they upgraded their electric heating to a more efficient heatpump with the help of a green loan; and the next step is getting solar - although, as she says, being the leader of a political party doesn't leave much time to go through the quotes.
Her dad is pretty pro-gas, something she says is common in Chinese circles, but she showed him how their induction cooktop worked last Christmas and he was amazed at how responsive it was.
When it comes to getting New Zealanders off gas, she says it's an equity issue. That's why the Government needs to help those who are least able to afford the electric upgrades and will eventually get stuck with the rising costs and why she's also supportive of the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme, which would offer low-interest, long-term loans to homeowners. \While she thinks we need significant reforms of the energy market, she says we also need to stop the flip flopping between Governments and, in a similar way to places like Ireland, build a vision that Kiwis can believe in. "This is where we're going. We could be the most electrified, cheapest renewable energy country in the world. And that's in our DNA. It's kind of what we're built on and people know us for. But we're starting to lose a bit of that reputation internationally."
While she thinks we need significant reforms of the energy market, she says we also need to stop the flip flopping between Governments and, in a similar way to places like Ireland, build a vision that Kiwis can believe in.
"This is where we're going. We could be the most electrified, cheapest renewable energy country in the world. And that's in our DNA. It's kind of what we're built on and people know us for. But we're starting to lose a bit of that reputation internationally."
Whether you're looking for an electric fruit picker, a farm workhorse, a high-end golf cart, a food and beverage hauler, a mobility scooter or a fold-up e-bike, Barry Hillyer could be the man you need to talk to. The E-motors showroom in Queenstown is home to an impressive collection of smaller electric machines and, while the big electric stuff like diggers and loaders creates plenty of attention, the small end of town is where the rubber is hitting the road in many other markets, where a lot of the innovation is happening and where the options are increasingly making economic sense.
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