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"Driving around New Zealand on locally-made electrons should be cheaper than driving around New Zealand on foreign-sourced molecules." And with proposed changes to the Road User Charges system, which Mike Casey discussed with RNZ's Eloise Gibson, it will be.
We've been asked a lot of questions about changing to a system based on distance rather than paying fuel excise at the pump and our number crunching has shown that over three million petrol cars (including hybrids) will now pay more, while just a few big petrol cars will pay less. Electric vehicles were already paying RUCs, so this levels the playing field and make EVs the cheapest option - and much cheaper over their lifetime. In our policy manifesto we ranked this change as a 4/10 in terms of impact.
It’s important to remember that no fossil fuel car is efficient when you compare it to an electric one and this change creates a stronger economic signal to choose electrons over molecules when the time comes. We can't 'hybrid' our way to a zero emissions vehicle fleet, just as we can't 'efficiency' our way to a zero-emissions economy.
People should pay for the impact they have, so a large, heavy 4x4 should pay more for its impact on roads than a small hatchback, as should large trucks pay more than cars.
There are also plenty of external impacts on society from the emissions and other effects of vehicles that should be economically accounted for, too. And there is still time to design that in to this system.
Read our full statement here.
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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