Road toll breaks for electric vehicles 'interesting question' Tesla the star of show at conference. Electric vehicles could be given breaks on new road tolls touted for Auckland, but the idea is not being currently considered.Government officials suggested last week that Auckland motorists might need to start paying motorway tolls within the next few years to avoid traffic gridlock.Transport Minister Simon Bridges told an electric vehicle (EV) symposium in Wellington that the question of whether EVs should be exempt from tolls was "a very interesting question". The future is electric, says Transport Minister Simon Bridges. "Given [road tolls] are about changing behaviours I could see that one of those could be changing behaviour to lower emission technologies," he said. But he also warned not to "get ahead of ourselves".READ MORE: * Tolling will be needed on Auckland's motorways to combat congestion * Transport Minister Simon Bridges rejects following Norway - Stuff.co.nz * What does the new Government package really mean for Kiwi EV buyers?
Speaking after the symposium, Bridges dampened the idea, saying breaks were not something the Government had yet given consideration to. Two Minutes of Stuff Encouraging low emission vehicles was not the primary reason the Government was considering tolling, he said."Having 'ulterior motives', even if they are very good ones is something we would have to be very careful about."Oxford University associate professor of engineering Malcolm McCulloch forecast electric engines for mid-sized EVs would become cheaper to manufacture than petrol engines by as early as 2018."No matter what you do here, internal combustion engines are not going to be around in 10 or 15 years time," he said. Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown said there could be other, less obvious benefits to the switch to EVs beyond reduced carbon emissions.People might be able to connect their cars to the grid in a way that let them run their home appliances off their car batteries when they got back from work, reducing peak-time pressure on the national grid.
EV batteries could also be used as emergency power sources after a natural disaster, which could improve the city's "resilience", she said.The Government announced a package of support for EVs in May, which included extended breaks on road user charges and allowing the possibility of EVs using bus lanes.But it has not gone nearly as far as many governments which have subsidised vehicle purchases to the tune of thousands of dollars, and, in the case of Norway and Holland, proposed banning the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2025.Bridges acknowledged there was "always a case for doing more", noting New Zealand had an advantage making the switch to EVs because of the high proportion of electricity New Zealand generated from renewable sources.He has ordered an electric vehicle himself, a Mitsubishi plug-in hybrid, which he expected would be delivered next month.Exclusive luxury furniture from around the world The first to weave synthetic fiber into luxury outdoor designs, the first to place an absolute premium on quality, the first to become a truly global brand, DEDON revolutionized the business of outdoor furniture from the moment we took production into our own hands.
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