Council slashes emissions with EVs

Electric vehicles (EVs) have helped a council cut nearly 50 tonnes of greenhouse gas production from its carbon footprint and saved ratepayers tens of thousands of dollars.

Northland Regional Council (NRC) has 10 EVs, among the most per capita of any New Zealand council, and is pushing to have many more over the coming decade.

“They're great news for council – reducing our carbon footprint, providing significant operational savings and influencing others to also get on board too,” says Joe Camuso, NRC’s EV specialist and 2019 New Zealand EV champion of the year .

“We’ll likely be full electric in our fleet pool cars within the next 10 years.”

NRC is working with Northland's three district councils as they shift their focus to the possibility of acquiring EVs. Whangarei District Council (WDC) already has seven and the Far North District Council is in the process of buying its first three, reports the Northern Advocate.

Councils in the Northland region have worked together to build a network of fast chargers. “Now this network’s in place and we have longer-range EV technology available, we’ll likely see increasing use of EVs by our Northland councils,” says Camuso, pictured.

Making savings

NRC claims it has saved $44,000 in petrol use costs since buying its first EV in 2013 and its EVs have travelled 280,000km in that time. Camuso says EVs make economic sense for councils and ratepayers.

The purchase price of an EV is more than a conventional petrol vehicle but looking at costs over the vehicle’s life – its purchase price, along with fuel and tyre replacement costs – the NRC concludes an EV is the cheaper option.

William Taylor, FNDC general manager corporate services, says one challenge common to all rural councils wanting to decarbonise their fleet was obtaining long-range SUV-type vehicles cost-effectively.

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