Can’t we have more charging stations AND the clean car discount?

Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, September 7th, 2023 - 18 comments
Categories: climate change, greens, labour, national, science, transport - Tags:

So National wants to improve the country’s electric car recharging network.

This is a good idea and worthy of discussion.  All strength to them.

But this announcement shows what a poor state our political system is in.

Because politics ought to involve a civilised discussion about which policy will deliver the greatest reduction in greenhouse gasses in the shortest possible time.

If we accept that we are facing a civilisation ending threat then we should be doing everything we can.  Some policies will make significant contributions, some not so much.  Depending on how desperate we get we may have to try as many of them as we can afford.

Labour’s clean car discount policy is in my view a very good spend of public resources.  It has incentivised the purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles as well as publicised the benefit of going green.

National’s proposal could be helpful.  Charging stations are still somewhat rare and more charging stations could increase the uptake of electric vehicles.

But Labour’s clean car discount has achieved a lot of good and denigrating and sacrificing one for another policy is not conducive to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

As I commented in May this year this release from Stats New Zealand highlights how well Labour’s scheme has worked:

The total value of passenger motor vehicles imported in the 12 months to March 2023 was $6.8 billion – an increase of 13 percent on the previous year. This represents the largest value of vehicles purchased within any 12 months to March.

Rises in imports were seen across vehicles of all reduced-emission propulsion methods, with electric vehicle imports having the highest increase of 127 percent, to $1.23 billion. Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and the less common plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) increased 79 percent (to $1.12 billion) and 123 percent (to $176 million), respectively.

The combination of all passenger internal combustion vehicles increased 1.7 percent, to $5.6 billion.

This graph shows what has been happening.

The scheme has been that successful that it is under fiscal pressure and rather than tip funds into the scheme the Government previously announced changes to the costs and subsidies payable under the scheme.

And the fleet continues to improve in its fuel efficiency.  It has been estimated that in June this year one in every two cars was an electric.

National engaged into a really tacky culture war over the issue.

As Michael Wood said in response to a question from Simeon Brown:

I recognise that the National Party and the member opposite wish to turn every policy that is about addressing climate change into a tacky little culture war, but our Government is actually focused on practical measures that reduce emissions across our transport sector. Of course, what the member is trying to do here is present the Clean Car Discount as a policy that only applies to those purchasing a vehicle like a Tesla, and that is completely wrong. For example, the biggest make of vehicles that has attracted both the largest number of discounts and the highest total value of discounts have in fact been Toyotas. The two most commonly sold vehicles that have attracted a discount under the Clean Car Discount have been Toyota models that sell for under $20,000. Ours is a Government which is getting on with reducing transport sector emissions. We will keep doing that while the National Party continues to wallow in their lazy climate change denialism.

National’s full throated attack on the policy was dented somewhat after it was disclosed that National leader Christopher Luxon has bought a Tesla using the scheme and he also took steps to get a Crown supplied Tesla.  You can obviously never have too many Teslas.

Work is already occurring in the area.  In March Waka Kotahi released this discussion paper seeking responses to a proposal to put charging hubs in place every 150 – 200 kms on main highways by 2028.

Existing work is being funded from the climate budget, the one that National wishes to use to help pay for tax cuts for landlords.

The basic problem is that while the proposal is worthy of consideration National’s overall approach to climate change would destroy any chance we have of meeting our climate goals.

James Shaw sets out the hypocrisy of National’s position well.

So let us have a discussion about the best way to roll out charging stations.  But this really feels like some greenwashing by National who has shown from its other actions that it is completely indifferent to meaningful action on climate change.

18 comments on “Can’t we have more charging stations AND the clean car discount? ”

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  1. Bearded Git 1
    7 September 2023 at 8:57 am

    It is quite clever greenwashing….where was Labour's immediate response saying there is already a plan and funding in place to roll out charging stations?

    Maybe this wasn't reported….the Greens will be far ahead on this issue. I note that they have polled better than ACT in the last two polls.

  2. Ad 2
    7 September 2023 at 10:25 am

    Since December 2020 all government departments have been required to replace with electric or hybrid vehicles.

    Frustratingly overall the number of light vehicles in the government fleet has increased by 16% but in that percentage is nearly 1000 new petrol and diesel cars signed off by Department CEOs.

    State agencies such as NZPolice will be hard nuts to crack and definitely will need full network recharge reliability before they can confidently convert.

    Most of the large rental companies have changed their small car to hybrids, but a lot of their fleets are SUVs which don't yet have many electric options.

    Both government and rental fleets are critical for our second hand market, which is an important source for kiwi purchasers.

    The Saudi and Russian oil cuts are going to push oil over US$107 a barrel and diesel owners are really in for it. All good for your fleet purchasing decisions team!

  3. Charlotte Rust 3
    7 September 2023 at 11:33 am

    They can’t credibly keep the clean car discount after the almighty ruckus they made against it. Ute tax! Subsidies for the wealthy! But knowing the media they wouldn’t criticise or even bother mentioning the sheer hypocrisy.

    • bwaghorn 3.1
      7 September 2023 at 12:19 pm

      The ite tax was a shot idea , rural people need utes there wasn't a viable alternative, public good taxs must be avoidable to be fair

      • Adrian 3.1.1
        7 September 2023 at 3:06 pm

        Most rural vehicle costs are tax deductible and depreciation is a factor too because they are used for businesses. Unless you privately buy a ute for posing in the cost of owning one is relative to a small car purchase in the long run. Tax deductions and depreciation are not carte blanche, they are only a percentage of use mostly and generally only one vehicle per farm.

        I dont know the fuel consumption of every model and the latest engine technology makes them fairly efficient and the engines are surprisingly small around 3 to 4 litres but most have a turbo charger when doing heavy work.

        Cockies would never admit that they get a pretty good deal compared to the people that work for them on wages or some poor bugger trapped in a factory miles from home.

        • bwaghorn 3.1.1.1
          7 September 2023 at 5:42 pm

          Unless you privately buy a ute for posing

          Go fuck yourself you stuck up tosser, I have ute , I own 6 dogs for work mostly, my mental health hobbies are dog trialing, and skiing, (I'm 15 minutes from the ski feild., a ute works best.

          I'm a wage earner so no tax breaks for me , you are typical of why many hate lefties.

          • Roy Cartland 3.1.1.1.1
            7 September 2023 at 9:27 pm

            Bit of a heated response. You may or may not be aware, but a lot of the rest of us hate that attitude farmers pull out: I'll do what I like (such as skiing!), the rest of you can damn well subsidize it, because it's my "right", and no one tells me what to do, etc etc.

            Pointedly ignoring that the cost to your 'mental health' pleasures get dumped on us all.

            • bwaghorn 3.1.1.1.1.1
              8 September 2023 at 6:43 am

              So you are a vegan who grows all his own food and never does a single thing that releases carbon that isn't critical to your existence??

              I noted on another comment that the pious Adrian flies around the world .

          • weka 3.1.1.1.2
            8 September 2023 at 9:27 am

            tend to agree. Way too much ignorance from some lefties about what living in the country actually means. The idea that everyone owns a farm and the farm should only have one ute, lol.

  4. Charlie 4
    7 September 2023 at 4:24 pm

    Has anyone considered that the way these charging stations are designed getting a vehicle with a trailer/boat etc physically in to connect is almost impossible without either blocking the road behind or having to un hitch the trailer/boat. These EV stations should be part of the existing petrol stations with similar physical layout.

  5. Peter Kelly 5
    7 September 2023 at 5:33 pm

    What's magic about 10,000? Seems a number made up for effect rather than need. Isn't the first requirement to make the electricity grid powered 100% from renewable sources?

  6. Ian Macdonald 6
    9 September 2023 at 3:30 pm

    We have now owned a Tesla for a year. We live in rural north Auckland and travel frequently from between Whangarei and Auckland Central. We have never used a charging station. All the power we use is from our home charger. So, in practice, our initial range anxiety was unnecessary. It is a common surprise for EV owners that there isn't a great demand for a charging network for normal use. A charging network is not an incentive to increase EV usage, but the subsidy we received certainly made the purchase of the Tesla doable. A better charging network would be handy when we take a trip to Wellington, but that is not a normal use of the car. This National Party policy is not based on any evidence it would work but panders to the misplaced anxiety of the misinformed public and is just a sound bite. They would do better to subsidise home-based solar charging stations. We are installing solar power because it is as plain as day that the price of power will increase with all this new demand, and distributed generators are the future. Our travels will be by the sun, not some oil field or coal mine.

  7. weka 7
    9 September 2023 at 6:34 pm

    How long does it take to drive from Whangarei to Auckland?

  8. alwyn 8
    9 September 2023 at 7:14 pm

    If it was such a wonderful scheme with the most popular cars to get a subsidy being low priced Toyota's why did they drop them from the scheme?

    After the changes they made this year the most popular Toyota vehicles, such as the Corolla and Camry no longer qualify for the subsidy as far as I know.

    Teslas still do of course, and a lot of the other more pricey machines.

    Why on earth did the cut out the models that use very little fuel and don't need a charging network around the country.

    I have a Honda Jazz that used to qualify. It still uses motor spirit but less that 4 litres/100 km including stop-start usage around town. Why was it dropped? Was it just to save the bounty for rich Greenies with their flashy BEVs?

  9. Red Blooded One 9
    15 September 2023 at 3:41 pm

    Ads on the Tele keep telling me that Z are rolling out Fast Charging at their Stations, Why do we need 10,000 National Party Public Owned Charging Stations if that is happening plus the ChargeNet stations that are popping up around the place? Could it be their announcement is BS virtue signalling?