May 11, 2026
Story
Political Power: Tim Costley, National

Last week we had an off-grid MP as part of our Political Power series. That was pretty rare, but this week we've got something even rarer: an MP who's flown an electric airplane. Before he became the National MP for Ōtaki, Tim Costley MP was a helicopter pilot and spent 23 years in the Air Force. He flew in an electric aircraft a couple of years ago as it was travelling around New Zealand and "it was phenomenal".

While helicopters and jets aren't going to be electrified anytime soon, there is some innovation happening at the smaller, shorter end of aviation, he says, and he reckons there could be an opportunity for Kāpiti to be an electric hub where passengers could take zero-emissions flights across the Cook Strait or up to Taranaki.

Back on land, he still gets the buzz of rapid acceleration in his fully electric Kia Niro, which he bought a couple of years ago with the help of a green loan.

He's not a car guy, but he loves his EV and he has absolutely no range anxiety during his trips to and from Wellington or around his sizeable constituency.

"I wouldn't go back," he says. " ... I love the performance, I love seeing the battery charge when you go down hill."

And he also loves running it down to the last kilometre just as a challenge.

Even with RUCs, which will eventually be placed on all vehicles, he says the finances still stack up for electrons over fuel, especially as he sets a time to charge overnight on lower rates.

Unless you're a farmer with a tank, he reckons an EV is also far more convenient.

His next step is to go solar and look at a battery but the numbers need to work. He says no-one's home in the middle of the day, but with three teenage girls in the house, there will likely be some major savings to be made by heating the water during the solar window and using it to charge the car when you can.

As Mike Casey says, the more children you have and the more electricity a household uses, the better and faster solar generally pays itself off.

See all the Political Power interviews from across the spectrum here.

Read moreDownload the document here

More News

See all news