Dealer switches on EV loan cars
A Waikato car dealership is dropping fossil fuel loan cars in favour of EVs. Damien O’Carroll reports.
In a move that it says will expose more than 2500 people in the Waikato to electric vehicles, Hamilton car dealership Ebbett Volkswagen will replace its entire fleet of fossil-fuelled loan vehicles with EVs.
The dealership received $93,499 in funding from the latest round of the Government’s Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund to replace nine ICE vehicles that are loaned to customers as short-term replacements while their own vehicles are being serviced, as well as install charging infrastructure for the EVs.
The Volkswagen e-Golf that will make up the fleet has a claimed ‘‘real world’’ range of 220km and currently retails for $68,490.
Hamilton East based Ebbett Volkswagen says the move will further strengthen its position as one of the region’s leaders in automotive sustainability following on from its Think Blue Waikato scheme, which is a group of Waikato businesses, local bodies and community groups that have committed to take part in a minimum 12-month electric vehicle trial.
The Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund is administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) and aims to encourage innovation and investment in projects that accelerate the uptake of electric and other low-emission vehicles in New Zealand.
The recipients of the fund were recently announced by Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods, who said ‘‘Thirty one exciting new low-emissions transport projects will share over $11 million of funding to help more Kiwis make use of new transport technology. This funding is made up of $4.3m of government co-funding and $7.3m of funds from the private sector. That’s a smart investment that means the maximum benefit for the taxpayers’ spend.’’
Ebbett Volkswagen dealer principal Poll Oosthuizen said, ‘‘We’re delighted that EECA agree this project brings great benefits to the Waikato by giving people an easy opportunity to trial EVs in a supported environment.
‘‘We’ve already had great success with our Think Blue Waikato scheme helping businesses get on board with driving e-Golfs as part of their fleet and this new support allows us to extend that to our individual customers.
‘‘Pretty soon, if you book your car into our workshop you’ll be able to drive away in an e-Golf for the day – that’s great for our customers, great for EV uptake and great for the environment. We can’t wait to get started.’’
Ebbett Volkswagen expects to have the full EV fleet in place by the middle of the year.