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Our Political Power series aims to show that going electric is good for everyone, no matter where you sit on the political sprectrum. Whether you're looking to lower costs, reduce emissions or increase resilience, it increasingly makes sense at an individual, community and country level and ACT's Todd Stephenson, who bought an electric Jeep around one year ago and built his new home in Queenstown to run on electrons, is a good example of that.
Stephenson says a lot of people within ACT are interested in technology and economics and, as he says, those two things are coming together in the realm of electrification. As Rewiring's research shows, New Zealand is now at the point where new electric machines (including finance) can save money from day one and are cheaper over the long-run because they cost less to operate.
ACT isn't keen on subsidies (although they aren't really needed anymore because the economics are so compelling on their own as energy prices rise and the cost of electric machines come down), but it is keen on free and fair markets and cutting red tape, both of which we've been asking for. Both of those things would level the playing field for customers to compete with big energy companies and help bring prices down (as an example, Australia can install solar at around half the price New Zealand can).
He has loved the new Avenger and says it's been great for tripping around Central Otago and on longer trips down to Invercargill, where he grew up. ACT leader David Seymour has been in the car with him on a few occasions (he particularly enjoyed the indicator beatbox and, as a qualified electrical engineer, he should understand the increased efficiency of electric machines).
Because there are fewer moving parts in EVs, very little maintenance is required in comparison to petrol cars and he loves the quietness of it. While he use fast chargers at this stage - which is the most expensive way to do it - he did have an EV charger installed in his apartment in Australia.
When it comes to solar, his house was designed with that in mind and he is confident that will happen at some stage. Queenstown has a higher than average adoption rate, in part due to higher incomes, and he believes solar and batteries make great sense for a place like this because it gets a lot of sun, is staring down the barrel of a big earthquake, and often has to deal with pressure on the grid at peak times.
Financial commentator Frances Cook uses her own story to show that that an investment in solar and an EV significantly outperforms the stock market and fellow number cruncher Nadine Higgins says that if you do it right, EVs are cheaper to run and own; EV sales have climbed to their highest level since 2022 and are closing in on 2023's numbers and Go Rentals has just invested $2.3 million in some new Tesla Model Y Premiums; the gap between energy costs of diesel vans and utes and electric vans and utes is absolutely massive; solar is also going off right now, with one installer in Otago 448% above their sales target in March; Lightforce has gone back to the Barretts with a new TV ad; Wellington mayor Andrew Little explains its electrification strategy and Hutt City Council shares data showing how its fleet has gone from dirty Toyotas to cleaner EVs; Shenzen in China has electrified its public transport and taxis and that's come with big benefits - and some challenges; and a very simple illustration of the LNG terminal.
Read moreDownloadAs Minister of energy, climate and local government, Simon Watts had a great opportunity to push the country towards cheaper, cleaner and more reliable New Zealand-made energy. And that’s why we laid down a challenge and gave him the ‘MegaWatts’ moniker last year. Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey says he did some good things, like enabling more solar on farms, removing tax on solar exports, fixing onerous solar consenting requirements, putting pressure on the lines companies to pull up their socks, and getting the ball rolling on the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme. "But the LNG import terminal appears to have been a defining issue."
Read moreDownloadAfter ‘crunching the numbers’ and adding in new sources of ‘New Zealand-made energy’ to our equations, CEO Mike Casey has announced that Rewiring Aotearoa will be changing its name to Refuelling Aotearoa. There has been a huge amount of independently verified research showing electrification beats fossil fuels on economics, efficiency, emissions and energy security and that there is a huge opportunity for New Zealand to electrify, but the discovery of an infinite supply of snake oil in New Zealand has changed everything, he says.
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