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Bold new electric vehicle target for Government

Bold new electric vehicle target for Government

One in three cars in the Government fleet will be electric by 2021, National Party Climate Change Issues Spokesperson Paula Bennett and Economic Development and Transport Spokesperson Simon Bridges have announced.

“We already have an ambitious target of having 64,000 electric vehicles in New Zealand by 2021. We want the public sector to lead by example so we are setting a hard target of 1 in 3 electric or electric hybrid vehicles in the Government fleet by 2021,” Mrs Bennett says.

“National knows that electric vehicles are the future. A move from petrol and diesel to low emission transport is a natural evolution, and it is our aim to encourage that switch sooner, rather than later.”

There are approximately 15,500 in the Government vehicle fleet, used by everyone from the Department of Conservation, Corrections, to Housing New Zealand and District Health Boards.

“A new National Government will use the buying power of Government to achieve the target and increase the number of electric vehicles in New Zealand,” Mr Bridges says.

“We already encourage the public sector to purchase electric through the competitive All of Government Procurement process and have a range of incentives in place to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles by the general public.

“Electric vehicles purchased in the Government fleet will flow through to the second hand market, which is essential to increasing uptake and incentivising more charging stations.

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“Since we launched our Electric Vehicles Programme in May 2016, the number of electric vehicles registered in New Zealand has grown from about 1,300 to more than 4,200, which shows our approach is working,” Mr Bridges says.

“With over 85 percent of the country’s electricity generated from renewable sources, the emission reduction benefits of electric vehicles in New Zealand are greater than in other countries,” Mrs Bennett says.

“Driving a fully electric vehicle results in 80 per cent less emissions than driving petrol vehicles. Transport makes up around 17 per cent of New Zealand’s emissions so this is an important part of our work to reduce emissions in the transport sector.”

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