Source: New Zealand Government
Twenty-four new projects that encourage the uptake of electric vehicles and build confidence in the purchase of e-bikes will receive Government co-funding, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods announced today.
The 24 projects will receive $3.2m from the Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund, which is administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA). Recipients will contribute a total $5m of their own capital.
For the first time, organisations could apply for co-funding to install secure e-bike storage facilities to encourage their uptake. Dr Woods said she was pleased to see five of these projects get the go-ahead: “Demand for e-bikes is high, but we know one barrier to regular e-bike commuting is having somewhere safe to store the bike.
“Decarbonising the transport sector represents a huge opportunity to reduce the country’s emissions, and enabling people to shift to a different transport mode plays a part in that.”
While announcing the successful projects, Dr Woods noted that a number of previously-funded ventures and spin-offs have hit the road in the last few months, including Foodstuffs launching the first fully electric refrigerated truck in the country, a NZ Post scheme to assist its contract drivers to buy electric delivery vans, and Asthma New Zealand buying EVs for its mobile nurses in order to reduce air pollution.
“The Contestable Fund encourages innovation and investment to accelerate the uptake of low emission vehicles in New Zealand. The success of previously-funded projects shows that we can meet New Zealand’s transport needs across a variety of sectors, giving other organisations the confidence to make their own investments,” Megan Woods said.
