Costs drive interest in electric cars
Rising fuel prices will be reflected in higher prices in shops, but some business owners are showing more interest in electric vehicles to reduce their expenditure.
Fuel makes up about 15 per cent of freight costs, so any increase in a highly competitive industry will have to be passed on, according to Ken Shirley, chief executive of the Road Transport Forum.
‘‘Some [firms] have automatic fuel adjustment clauses so they’ll introduce them quickly unless they want to go out of business,’’ he said.
‘‘Virtually everything is transported by a truck, whether it’s supermarket goods, whiteware or exports. So rising fuel prices have to have an immediate effect.’’
A Countdown spokesperson said it was too early ‘‘to provide any view as to whether there will be any price impact as a result of current fuel pricing’’.
Foodstuffs spokeswoman Antoinette Laird said fuel was one component of supermarket pricing, along with wages, compliance costs, insurance and other business levies.
‘‘It’s inevitable that at some point increased costs from our suppliers will be passed on to consumers.
‘‘We are looking for efficiencies at every level of our business to try and keep these to a minimum. It’s difficult to say at this point what any level of price increase might look like and when, or if, it is applied,’’ Laird said.
Meanwhile, one of New Zealand’s vehicle leasing and finance companies has seen an increase in inquiries from businesses looking to adopt electric vehicles (EVs) to their fleets.
Driveline chief executive Lance Manins said there had been an increase of about 26 per cent in requests for EVs through his company since April, potentially due to regional fuel taxes and fluctuating fuel costs.
Manins said he was getting up to 15 more inquiries a week, which was substantial for a leasing company.
‘‘Most of our clients seem to be small to medium enterprises – maybe they want to make a statement about their environmental responsibility, or demonstrate a point of difference.’’
He predicted the trend towards EVs would accelerate in 2019.
It would create some uncertainty for his company, which sold cars from the fleet into the secondary market.
If there were more of them it might devalue the prices of Driveline’s sales – although, conversely, the effect might be offset if they became cheaper to purchase from the manufacturers.
Leasing was attractive to many companies because of the high initial outlay to buy EVs. And there were tax advantages, he said.
There were now more than 10,000 EVs on the roads in New Zealand – up from 440 four years ago.
Recent Ministry of Transport findings revealed that a higher number of private individuals owned EVs, and most were owned by Aucklanders.
Charging networks were becoming available throughout most of the country and charging times would reduce below 15 minutes, he said.
Next year the Tesla Model 3 will be available, at a cost expected to be cheaper than an imported Nissan Leaf, Manins said.