Food fight! Mercury turns up the heat on petrol pushers

Food fight! Mercury turns up the heat on petrol pushers

Mercury is using burgers to turn up the heat on petrol retailers as prices at the pump hit record highs.

“We’re paying a premium for a dirty, imported product when the cleaner, New Zealand-made alternative is comparatively cheap as chips… or burgers to be more accurate,” says Mercury’s Chief Marketing Officer, Julia Jack.

To make the point, the electricity company has teamed up with BurgerFuel to give away 200 free gourmet mini-burgers this weekend. There’s also a special $5 gourmet mini-burger deal (usually up to $7.50) for all Mercury customers – about what it costs to fuel up a 24kWh EV such as a Nissan Leaf.

“We’ve got a fantastic opportunity in New Zealand where our home-generated, renewable electricity means you can do the right thing for the country, the environment and your wallet, and we want to celebrate that,” says Julia.

“Evie”, Mercury’s converted 1957 Ford Fairlane and poster-child for electric transport, has been helping tell the “fuel your car for the price of a burger” message as well with a new TV ad launched last month. The classic beauty was converted to plug-in electric earlier this year in a project which used leading kiwi ingenuity and gained international attention.

The campaign is all part of Mercury’s commitment to helping boost EV uptake in New Zealand, a journey that began almost five years ago.

“We’re absolutely at a tipping point when it comes to EVs. More than ever, Kiwis are acutely aware of the environmental and financial costs of driving on fossil fuels. You can see that shift in mindset in the research but also on our roads and it’s inspiring to see Kiwis driving change.”

There are now over 10,000 EVs registered in New Zealand and one in 50 vehicles imported are electric.

“EVs can run at the equivalent of 30c a litre on a much cleaner fuel source, so why continue to pay more and suffer the damage caused by petrol and diesel?”

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