WELLINGTON may become New Zealand’s leader in the introduction of electric cars.
Wellington City Council will discuss the capital’s Draft 2010 Climate Change Action Plan on Thursday, and will vote to include five new initiatives, one of which is the introduction of an electric vehicle pilot programme.
Councillor Ray Ahipene-Mercer says Wellington is the only city in New Zealand that he knows of that is already planning an electric vehicle action plan.
Wellington is an ideal location for an electric car launch because it already has renewable energy infrastructure in place, he says.
“We’re placed in a good position here, with the Meridian Wind Farm and [planning for] wave power.”
There are many issues associated with setting up an electric car city, such as the supply, the significant cost and placement of recharge outlets, so Ahipene-Mercer says it’s vital the council do all the preliminary work now, so that when electric cars are feasible internationally, Wellington “can hit the green button”.
He says electric cars internationally are priced in excess of $100,000, and in many cases, countries are experiencing problems with the demand outstripping the ability to supply the cars.
Wellington’s Climate Change Action team will address issues like these next year, and plan for solutions.
Ahipene-Mercer says a problem for Wellington will be the placement of recharge centres – because we have a lot of hills and many people park a distance from their houses, they would not have a garage to charge their car.
“Nothing has been finalised, but there’s been discussions with Meridian and Mitsubishi already,” he says. “We want to look at the opportunities to engage with public and private partners. The pilot programme is an initial programme to establish the work that needs to be done.”


Worldwide solutions to electric cars:

Cost: In 1996 California introduced electric vehicles and leased them on a short-term basis to test their popularity and make them immediately affordable. Ahipene-Mercer says this possibility has already arisen in discussions in the Capital.

Charge station: Authorities in Barcelona have come up with a novel way to solve the problem of how to install charging stations. As residents primarily use mobile phones now, 191 phone boxes in the city are to be transformed into electric car charging stations.

Demand outstripping supply: Finland is a world leader in electric car knowledge, and has already started an electric car conversion organisation called Electric Cars – Now! The company can convert standard Toyota Corollas into electric cars. The idea is an open-source project, which means that anyone can start a similar production anywhere, and the best part is, the ideas and designs are freely available from Electric Cars – Now!