Dunedin's top of the EV charts
Research carried out by the University of Otago and Dunedin City Council shows the number of electric vehicles (EVs) in Dunedin has increased from 25 to more than 500 in the last four years.
"However, this is still a drop in the bucket - it's less than half a per cent of Dunedin’s 104,000 registered vehicles," says the University’s Centre for Sustainability Associate Professor Janet Stephenson
Analysis by Carsten Dortans at the Centre for Sustainability shows Dunedin has by far the largest number of pure electric vehicles per 1000 people (3.73), with its closest rival being Wellington (3.19).
When both pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are counted, Dunedin still just comes out top (4.34), marginally ahead of Wellington (4.33) which has a greater proportion of PHEVs.
Dunedin’s EV owners’ group representative Pam McKinlay is delighted with the news.
"It’s made my day", she says. "I think our EV advocacy and education has probably helped, but Dunedin people are really interested too - we are always in demand for other events and festivals as well as the dedicated EV events we put on."
Dunedin also has the highest proportion of EVs registered for personal use, as opposed to commercial or other, followed by Wellington and Christchurch. Dunedin’s personal registrations are mostly pure EVs, again at a far higher rate per 1000 people (3.29) than all other cities (2.3 or less).
"This is something for Dunedinites to be very proud of," Stephenson says. "Electric vehicles have very low greenhouse gas emissions and are also increasingly affordable, and cost very little to run. I hope Dunedin can keep leading New Zealand."
