10 LISTENER SEPTEMBER 7 2019
LIFE
The power game
To power a huge
EV fleet we may
have to buildanother Clyde
dam or two.S
TE
VE
B
O
LT
O
N
BILL
RALSTON
W
hen Associate Transport
Minister Julie Anne Genter
asked for an investiga-
tion into banning the
import of petrol-driven cars into New
Zealand by 2035, she was looking
at ways to reduce carbon emissions.
But I suspect she was very quickly
informed that if news of the study
got out, it would simply dramatically
carbonise support for the Govern-
ment, and the proposal for the study
was never even taken to the Cabinet.
Genter is right in her view that,
sooner or later, the import of
petrol-driven vehicles,
particularly cars, will
have to be banned.
Oil is a finite resource
and as stocks dwindle,
the price of gasoline
will skyrocket and
New Zealanders will
have to find other
ways to get around.
Of course, the
arrival of that day
has been hastened
by the Government’s
ban on offshore oil
and gas exploration.
It drastically reduces
our ability to achieve
a stockpile of locally
produced fuel that
could delay the crunch
point on petrol for
another couple of
decades or more.EV technology
needs to improve
before we ban the
petrol-driven car.
“So waddaya wanna do when you’ve
finished being a grown-up?”Such a delay would be helpful, because it would
allow for electric vehicles (EVs) to be improved in
terms of their range and recharging time. Along
with capital cost, so-called “range anxiety” is the
major reason that car buyers have not been flock-
ing to all-electric vehicles. In a decade or so, the
technology will have improved as well as becom-
ing more affordable.
Short-range EVs may be fine in the city, but not
where I live in Hawke’s Bay. If I drove to Napier,
Hastings or Havelock North and back again, I
would have to immediately recharge the car. To
do that I would need a good book to read while I
waited for the flat battery to be resuscitated.
Someone in Government obviously decided
that announcing the timing of a ban on petrol
cars was a bit like singing Christmas carols to
turkeys: it was likely to result in widespread panic
among the flock of voters. But it will have to
happen one day.
I have nothing against EVs and I’m not in love
with the internal combustion engine. I don’t need
to hear the throbbing roar of a V8 and I’d be quitehappy to trundle along the road in
blissful silence. The only things stop-
ping me buying an EV right now are
the questions of range, recharging
time and, of course, cost. Answers to
those concerns will come eventually.I
n the meantime, it would be a
good idea to research the effect on
electricity supply if the nation’s
entire vehicle fleet swapped to EVs.
My guess is that even if the vora-
ciously electricity-hungry Tiwai Point
aluminium smelter closed, we still
wouldn’t have the capacity to power
such a huge electric-vehicle fleet. I’m
not sure the Greens or anyone else
in the coalition would be enamoured
of another Clyde dam or two being
constructed.
Still, the Government is muddling
about trying to figure out how to
reduce the cost of EVs to encourage
people to use them.
It also plans to slap
a $3000 tax on the
import of petrol cars
with high green-
house-gas emissions,
which will annoy the
hell out of drivers of
big Land Rovers and
the like. I’ve seen a
lot of provincial New
Zealand in the past
couple of years and
four-wheel-drives
and large powerful
utes seem to be the
order of the day.
Perhaps the
Government has
written off provin-
cial support and
will, instead, rely on
bicycle-riding city
voters. l