Supermarkets among winners of energy cash
Electricity company Meridian Energy, supermarket giant Foodstuffs, and tourism operators were among the recipients of money from the Government’s latest and biggest round of lowemission vehicle funding.
Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods announced the $11 million boost yesterday in Christchurch, where NZX-listed hire-vehicle business Tourism Holdings Ltd demonstrated one of its electric campervans.
The money will be used to set up new charging stations to complete the South Island tourist circuit on the West Coast, as well as on hydrogen fuel cell-powered buses at Ports of Auckland and battery testing for used-car buyers.
Richard Briggs of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, which manages the scheme, said contestable funding meant a panel would rank applicants to ensure recipients offered the widest public benefit.
This was why supermarkets had been chosen so that large numbers of people would have access to charging stations while they shopped, he said.
On the tourism front, the new funding will provide for a further 34 public charging spaces for electric vehicles, including at tourism hot-spots from Franz Josef to Rotorua.
The $26,000 to VTNZ will help develop a reliable battery condition test to give buyers of a secondhand electric vehicle confidence about its life expectancy, Woods said.
‘‘Transport is responsible for about 18 per cent of New Zealand’s total greenhouse gas emissions, so one of the most effective ways for us to help tackle climate change is to transition our fossil-fuelled transport fleet to run on clean, renewable energy sources,’’ she said.
However, Drive Electric lobby group chairman Mark Gilbert questioned how the Government would achieve a target of 64,000 electric vehicles by 2021, given there were only 12,000 currently.
Woods said higher numbers would be achieved by ensuring infrastructure was in place first, and by the Government leading the way when it procured new vehicles, which would later be sold on the used-car market.
In total, the scheme has committed $17.2m in Government funding to 93 projects, matched by $45m of applicant funding.