Recent Ministry of Economic Development estimates suggest the petroleum sector could provide over $30 billion NZD per year by 2025 if full scale petro-mining gets the green light. Coupled with the move to make the country’s electricity 90% renewable 2025, it could end up making New Zealand a fistful of dollars, while simultaneously cleaning up the country’s CO2 output.
There’s one thing holding it all back however, and that’s your exhaust pipe.
Globally, CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use in the transport sector are increasing faster than CO2 emissions from any other sector, and it’s not expected to stop any time soon.
It’s exactly the same in New Zealand, with around 3.4 million vehicles registered for use on the road, travelling an average of 14,000 kilometres per year, and releasing around 20.4 billion tonnes of CO2 annually.
Reducing petrol & diesel consumption & CO2 emission levels, while subsequently increasing the country’s profit margins still seems impossible however. A miracle would be needed.
This is where electric vehicles can step in. According to the Bio Energy Organisation of New Zealand, each year motorists burn 3,400,000,000 litres of petrol alone. This means if just 5% of the 3.4 million vehicles on the nations roads were converted to run on electricity, it could mean a saving of up to 170,000,000 litres per year.
In pure dollar terms, that’s around $309.4 million which could be fed back into the commercial sector each year, along with the $30 billion in profits from exporting our oil. The idea of mining for oil and converting cars to electricity has it’s drawbacks however.
The New Zealand public is already raising it’s voice around the issue of mineral mining in untouched areas of the country. While energywise.govt.nz assures us we won’t need more power stations for many years due to the efficiency of electric cars, the effectively “lost” petrol taxes for roading projects will have to come from somewhere. This could mean an abrupt end to electric vehicles being exempt from paying Road User Charges, and an increase in petrol taxes for those still burning gas.
With that in mind, is it actually possible to reduce both your CO2 output and your fuel bill?
Yes, but you’ll get the most rewards if you’re an early adopter of electric vehicles. I suggest getting on the EV bandwagon as soon as possible, before extreme taxes start to hamper the superiority of the electric vehicle.
If you can’t wait until Nissan brings out it’s 2012 all-electric LEAF (estimated at $51,000 NZD) then your only options are either continue releasing both money and carbon simultaneously, or join the many Kiwis who are breaking their oil addictions, ditching gas, and converting their vehicles to electricity themselves.
