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Electric vehicles fund to focus on showcasing innovation
Hon Simon Bridges
Minister of Transport
Minister of Energy and Resources
12 August 2016
Electric vehicles fund to focus on showcasing innovation
Transport and Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges today released details of the first round of the Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund.
The fund is part of the Government’s ambitious electric vehicles (EVs) programme announced in May to help accelerate the uptake of EVs in New Zealand.
Up to $4 million is available in 2016/17,
with up to $6 million available in future
years.
“We’ve set a target to double the number of EVs on our roads each year to reach 64,000 by 2021. The contestable fund is one of the 14 ambitious and wide ranging initiatives we announced in May to help achieve this target,” Mr Bridges says.
“The principle of the fund is to accelerate the uptake of electric and other low emission vehicles in New Zealand that might not otherwise occur. For example, it will focus on projects that aim to increase the variety and supply of EVs available, the availability of charging infrastructure and projects that are developing innovative products or systems.”
The first funding round will focus specifically on projects that can be implemented relatively quickly.
“We want to
support innovative New Zealand organisations to get projects
up and running as quickly as possible so we can see more
electric vehicles replacing fossil-fuelled ones on New
Zealand roads,” Mr Bridges says.
Mr Bridges says the benefits of increasing uptake of electric vehicles are far-reaching.
“They’re cheaper to run than petrol or diesel vehicles, they’re powered by our abundant renewable electricity supply, and they’ll reduce the amount of emissions that come from the country’s vehicle fleet.”
The fund will be administered by the Energy
Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA). The first
funding round is expected to open in mid-September with
funding decisions made before the end of 2016.
Information on the contestable fund is available at www.eeca.govt.nz/ev.
Information on the Government’s electric vehicles programme is available atwww.transport.govt.nz/ev.
ends
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