Powering the switch to EVs

Businesses are being encouraged to switch their vehicle fleets to cleaner electric vehicles as part of the latest round of funding to promote EVs.

Low-emission transport will be boosted by more than $11 million under the co-funding initiative from the Government’s Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund.

That means 31 projects will share more than $4.3m from government co-funding, while the successful applicants will contribute more than $7.3m.

The projects range from 100 per cent electric campervans for tourists to hydrogen fuel cellpowered buses at the Ports of Auckland, to solar panel-charged electric vehicles and a trial of smart chargers in people’s homes.

Among the projects approved is an initiative from vehicle leasing company ORIX NZ, which is offering businesses with 16 or more lease vehicles the chance to upgrade one of their fleet’s vehicles to an electric vehicle, at

the same cost as the fossil fuel equivalent.

ORIX NZ will also install a charging unit at the business and provide opening charging credit.

The company says the aim is to remove many of the barriers businesses face when attempting to include electric vehicles in their fleets.

ORIX says there has been increasing interest in adding EVs to business fleets but most businesses were reluctant to invest the higher upfront costs. By integrating EVs into a three-year lease under this initiative, most of the cost barriers are removed.

The $135,451 project will integrate electric vehicles into a wider range of businesses over a three-year period, allowing them to experience and evaluate electric vehicles.