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After a decisive victory for Labor, “commissions” for electric vehicles and a ban on fossil fuel cars could appear on the new government’s agenda, experts suggest.
In the run-up to the elections, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced several policies to reduce emissions from transportation. He pledged $ 50 million to buy electric buses and reaffirmed his support for the Clean Car Standard, a policy rejected by NZ First. But aside from mentioning his own low-carbon Hyundai Ioniq in the discussions, Ardern had little to say about electric cars.
Still, the Executive Director of the Motor Industry Association, David Crawford, believes the election night results could spur Labor to step up efforts to decarbonize the country’s cars.
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The Clean Car Standards emissions policy looks like a shoe, with no NZ First in a position to kill it. The ministry has done groundwork for the proposal, which would require vehicle importers to reduce average emissions from vehicles arriving in the country.
The Treasury estimated that the policy could save 5.1 million tons of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. But that’s only about a third of the greenhouse gas emissions the country produces each year on the roads.
Crawford considers the proposed emissions standard (an average of 105 kilograms per kilometer) “impossible to meet”, although he hopes that the legislation will pass this term.
The association is more interested in seeing the “feebate” scheme resurface. The plan, supported by the Greens but opposed by NZ First, would make it cheaper to buy electric and low-emission cars and more expensive to buy gasoline-powered vehicles.
Chris Harrowell / Stuff
To promote the adoption of electric vehicles, the next government could introduce emission standards and the feebate. It will?
Greenpeace climate activist Amanda Larsson also thought Labor could revive the feebate idea, which it supported in the previous legislature, especially if it reached a deal with the Green Party.
“Labor didn’t want to shake the boats because I think they realized that people are very touched by Covid-19 … But I think Labor underestimated people’s appetite to do something good with the Covid recovery.” .
So the Labor campaign promises on transportation “tiptoed in the right direction” but were not ambitious and would have little impact, Larsson said. “I haven’t seen much of Labor helping people make their next car electric.”
Crawford said a ban on new fossil fuel car sales could float in the next period. “We suspect that the Labor Party will seek to make some decisions to indicate when a ban on ‘pure’ internal combustion engine vehicles will go into effect.”
Such a ban would be “problematic” to implement before 2035, Crawford said.
Rather than individual policies, Drive Electric Chairman Mark Gilbert would prefer a decarbonization plan for the entire transportation sector. “What I hope to see is some political will. New Zealand has spoken a good talk … but we don’t really do what we do. “
Starting in 2025, European nations will begin to ban fossil fuel vehicles. Without a plan, we could become a used car dump, Gilbert said.
“Instead of promising this and modifying that … you actually need a larger conversation, get all the stakeholders together and come up with a good plan,” he said. “It has to be bipartisan … It has to pass as well as the Zero Carbon Act.”
In the campaign, Labor touted its disputable fund for low-emission vehicles, which gives money to projects like new charging stations.
The party also pledged to make the national power grid 100 percent renewable by the end of the decade, resulting in electric cars running on lower-emission energy. Aside from the emissions to make them, electric vehicles in New Zealand produce around 25 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer, from electricity (which is roughly 80 percent renewable, on average). A fully renewable grid could bring this figure closer to zero.
On Sunday, Ardern said he hopes to form a government in the next two to three weeks.
Any trust and supply agreement or memorandum of understanding that is issued as part of this process will indicate government transportation and other priorities.
