Electric change in the air

Tim and Helen Gow are leading the charge for rural folk to embrace electric vehicles (EVs) – proving you can do better for the climate and save thousands of dollars in fuel costs as well.

The Southland farmers bought their first partly electric vehicle – a plug-in hybrid – in 2013 as a ‘‘punt’’, and have saved upwards of $80,000 in petrol costs from that purchase alone.

Since then, Tim Gow has gone on to replace all his utility terrain vehicles with electric alternatives.

‘‘[EVs] seem to be more resilient than people think they are . . . I don’t know why it feels scary to some people because if they haven’t put the petrol in, they’ll run out as well,’’ he said.

The Gows own Mangapiri Downs organic stud farm, which runs about 4000 stock units of sheep and cattle in Blackmount, western Southland. They started using regenerative farming techniques in 1988, doing away with fertiliser, and now they are aiming to run the farm using entirely EVs to create a carbonneutral product.

The Changing Our Future series is produced in partnership with Stuff and Gen Less.