6 May 2016

MIA Press Release – MIA Welcomes the Minister of Transport Electric Vehicle Initiatives

The Minister announced today a range of measures to incentivise the uptake of plugin vehicles.

Worldwide, the motor industry spends billions of dollars developing new technologies to make vehicles safer and cleaner. New Zealand is a technology taker so we can benefit from the best technology the world has to offer.

Over the next five years, vehicle distributors will progressively bring in new models of electric vehicles, with the vast majority of these being plugin hybrid electric vehicles. However, these vehicles come at a premium price due to the level of technology in them compared to normal internal combustion engine vehicles. The uptake of plugin vehicles is expected to increase progressively over time but will remain a small overall component of total vehicle sales unless the incremental cost of purchasing them can be partially offset as happens in most countries.

Most governments around the world view the uptake of electric vehicles as an important component of reducing their country’s CO2 emissions and offer various levels of subsidies and incentives to induce consumers to purchase these vehicles.

John Manley, president of the Motor Industry Association says “New Zealand is in a unique position of generating the majority of its electricity from sustainable resources. It is therefore pleasing to see the Minister of Transport is providing tangible incentives for businesses and consumers to purchase low emission vehicles. This is an important initiative that will assist New Zealand in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions”.

ENDS

© Scoop Media