'This car can...' Check out our new campaign
Mike Casey is the CEO of Rewiring Aoteraoa, part of an international movement to accelerate the shift to a renewable, electric-powered economy. Rewiring’s first report is all about the electric home - think rooftop solar, heat pumps, EVs and so on. But Mike is also a horticulturist and a passionate advocate for decarbonising the primary sector. He has the unique ability to win over both farmers and greenies, and politicians just love being seen in front of the electric tractor at his Forest Lodge Orchard - believed to be the world’s-first, electrified, zero-fossil fuel cherry orchard. Mike spoke to Vincent.
There are a lot more New Zealanders looking for EVs right now as concerns about the price and availability of fuel rises. But many of them are new to the scene. Here are some things to consider to ensure you get the right EV for your needs.
Read moreDownloadThere’s a lot of talk about what electric vehicles can’t do and plenty of myths and misperceptions that might stop people from upgrading. But the people who actually own EVs? They’re overwhelmingly sold and recent research showed that 96% of EV owners would buy another one. That's why we're launching 'This Car Can...' We want to tap into that electric enthusiasm and convince more New Zealanders who may be on the fence to start running on cheap local electrons rather than on expensive imported foreign molecules.
EV owners love all the things their cars can do - and they can do a lot of different things these days. So we're asking them to share a story about their EV experience, upload a photo and tell us what their car can do, or send in a video.
We'll add them to the campaign page and we'll use the best ones on socials and in our advocacy to show how lots of different New Zealanders are benefitting from EVs in their lives.
We've also compiled a whole heap of information on why we love EVs - from the savings to the speed off the mark and everything inbetween.
Get in behind!
Mike Casey spoke to RNZ about changes to Meridian's EV plan but said: "The key thing here is even with the prices going up, the savings potential is absolutely huge. All this increase in Meridian's prices are absolutely dwarfed by what's going on the fossil fuel market at the moment, so I hope that New Zealanders, even though they see price rises on both options, that they realise how small one price rise is compared to the other price rise at the moment."