I have been drivings hybrid cars for about a decade now and really like them. They are particularly well suited for mid to long range drives. They are not great for short trips, a plugin Hybrid would be way better for that but has been out of price range for us.
An electric car would be nice, I have driven some and love the concept but realise there are some hooks attached. They are cool for short trips with frequent short plug-ins for recharge. The few people I know or have heard from first hand that own one and attempt to drive long range have not too much positive – yet – to say for various reasons that I really do not want to expand on here – another topic for another time.
Looks like the government plan is to push for more electric cars while taxing SUV and ute users, around 100,000 in New Zealand.
At the same time, most coal boilers would need to go by 2037 under Government plan. This is likely to increase electricity demand, just like more EV’s would do.
* Green Party wants coal boilers banned and solar panels for state homes
* Wairau Hospital to replace coal burners following $5m funding boost
* Government starts to take public sector off coal with eight schools and a hospital
* Fonterra burning coal to dry milk ‘insane’ and must stop, says British energy expert
* 100pc renewable generation could wait to the 2040s, Genesis boss suggests
On the other side, Huntley just turned its 3rd coal boiler back on for the winter demand.
As I am writing this, the North Island is generating 3,033MW, of which 712MW is gas, 473MW is coal/gas, a total of 1,185MW non-renewable, with only 174MW Wind. Makes a total of 39% that is not renewable for the North Island. Looks better if you include the South Island though, makes currently a total NZ of 25% non-renewable.
Source: Power System Live Data
So my question is really:
What happens when we now push for nore electric vehicles while there’s a lack of supply – especially in utes than can actually pull stuff.
Most (somewhat) electric SUVs/utes currently available like the Outlander PEV can tow 900kg, nothing much else seems currently around.
Chargesmart is giving us an overview of electric utes.
But you need to read carefully what the expectations are.
So a lot of hope and will be’s.
There’s currently nothing around, that can replace a Hilux or Ranger etc in terms of towing capacity and utility, yet the government is taxing the users of such utes. Agreed, some people would not need a towing capacity of 3+ tonnes, but I am one of those people that has two horses and just the empty float makes it to 650kgs, then you add 2x horses @ ~600 kg each, so you end up with something like 2 tonnes. We also need a little digger typically 2x a year for drain, driveway and paddock maintenance. That’s 2-3 tonnes as well.
A lot of tradies will be in for a similar situation. I am lucky enough that I do not have a boat 😉
Now I get that only NZ new vehicles are getting taxed and I always had 2nd hand cars anyway. So there’s a glimpse of hope: If you need a new ute, then you will need to pay. Buy 2nd hand.
One can just hope that the money goes straight into EV subsedies, renewable energy and charging stations and not being used to fill some other gaps.