We recently bought a used (but originally NZ new) EV. There are people who sell their cars every two years and the first models that benefited from the clean car discount are starting to filter down to the rest of us. I seldom use public chargers but I did yesterday in a supermarket carpark. Right next to me was an electric delivery van being used for a bakery. Looked ideal for a number of tradies. Many of the utes sold here are not for business, or not for businesses that need a ute - many for those that just want to project the image.
Seems to me that light rail, more people using public transport would be much better than the one individual per car & more roads. A change in attitude needed.
i have been waiting for the subsidy on e bikes. (with trailer to cart my garden tools and materials). but steadily realising that none of this is going to be enough. we need a major rethink of cities. but have to get better at picking and choosing experts. go hunting for examples where people have turned city suburbs into villages, turned housing developments into papakainga. we need to get more communal in lifestyles and decision making so we dont have to travel as much as individuals. And declare all caves as inhabitable community owned villages for the upcoming climate catastrophes before property speculators get their hands on them and start charging for shelter. maybe glass half empty is where we need to be. get better at holding hope and seeing the bigger picture of what needs to happen. interesting read and listen, thank you.
Having experienced the hell that is Lake rd on a Saturday morning - after playing football at the North Shore United grounds at the end of Lake rd - over 50 minutes to get back to the motorway , All I could think was that the locals put up with this nonsense daily.. how ???
My Co.Car is a Rav 4 Hybrid, it is using 5.1l per 100km they do make a difference
Well, keep Nats and Act out of it as they waffle about charging stations, but know nothing of the handling the changes in the future--except to leave the hard work and public transport to someone else.
They will come down in price over time. But I think having a clean car subsidy has helped some people make the shift, even if to a hybrid at this stage.
Nick, love your work, but self charging cars? Really? Hybrid cars charge by using their internal combustion engine to generate electricity, plus a bit of regeneration when slowing down. Perpetual motion machines are a long way off.
Ha. I do appreciate a hybrid is not as good as a fully electric car, but they do use massively less fuel than a petrol one, therefore much lower emissions, and not having to charge them is very convenient. I'm sure fully electric is where we'll all go in time.
My hybrid Yaris uses far less petrol than my previous old Yaris. I saw it as a safe step on the way to full electric when the infrastructure is available. The clean car discount strongly influenced my decision to buy hybrid, plus it's an absolute pleasure to drive. Bikes aren't an option for me, so a dependable car is essential.
Climate Change is not the only thing we need to take out of the hands of politicians, thee are many more aspects of our lives and society that need to be treated with a long term vision.
Education, health, transport, defence......
But we will not be able to do that without the right tools. We are the only European style Western democracy to have neither a written constitution nor an upper house. If we had those tools, given modern technologies, we would be able to stop this ridiculous flip-flopping we see each election time.
By putting in place principles chosen by the people, and requiring government to work within those principles, we could ensure this countries future direction.
But but but ... I'm not seeing any European style Western democracies with constitutions and upper houses having any less flip-flopping than Aotearoa New Zealand. Which countries are you thinking of?
Good point. If you have the tools you have to use them. It's not a guarantee of success on its own.
But the Ozzies call us a nation of sheep for a reason, and October will prove once again that we are happy to settle for sub-standard.
By engaging and enabling the people we can have a greater influence on the parties than by simply voting. When was the last time a party engaged the people to find out what they wanted? Not in my 50 years of voting. They GIVE US a choice of one or the other; that is not democracy.
Is this failing system and sub-standard policies really all we can pass on to our children?
I think not, but we have to face the reality of the failings we've been happy to accept si far and say we want better than this for our children.
I'm in Napier...when my (previously 20 minute) commute to Hastings each day started taking 1.25 hours, one boss said - just work form home, then other said, people in Auckland do it every day without complaint. They don't, lol...it was a major factor in my decision to leave. I work from home 2 days a week now, and the commute has improved since a new bridge was opened end of July.
My mum lived on Lake road for some years, and later she and my stepfather bought a house in Hillcrest, where Lake road was still a main route to get places. Congestion in that area has been an issue for a long time, but I am sure with Auckland's increased population, it is much,much worse now. Simeon Brown was on the Breakfast show this morning belligerently touting the Nats policy of putting electric Charging stations all over the country. He constantly ta;lked down, and over the Labour guy whose name has slipped my memory. He gave stats for how many Charging stations other countries have-many more than Aotearoa.What he did'n't acknowledge was that the govt. havetheir own policy to rol out Charging statios around the country- which they have a;ready started doing , but their budget for this is not as not as big as National's. The other pertinent factor he did not mention is that many NZers have garages with electricity, unlike other countries and charge their cars in their garage.
Well said, Nick. Fortunately for us in Devonport we have the ferry to the city which keeps cars off the road. Since the changes from Fullers to AT we have had a rough ride, with cancellations, but mostly we can get there and back. Recently I found a late night ferry cancelled and in order to get back to care for my husband, I had to taxi (couldn't uber due to not good enough software), and it was $75. So the ferry (free thanks to Winston) is the answer. Though I'm grateful for the free ferry, I could never vote NZ First. His views on immigration are awful - what would my elderly husband do without the wonderful carers/nurses from the Philippines, Sri Lanka (top two), China and India.
Ferries! That's what we need in Auckland. Imagine a ferry service going from downtown Auckland to pt Chev, Te Atatu, West Harbour, Hobbsonville, Beach Haven, Birkenhead, Northcote, Belmont, Stanley Point Devenport then back to the city. Then we still have that obligatory service between Devonport and the city. Just imagine. Or another just servicing the south and west sides straight into town or get off on the way. That's the only way most of us get to set foot on the water. As for the charging station networks they must be for the new National Roads of Significance!
We recently bought a used (but originally NZ new) EV. There are people who sell their cars every two years and the first models that benefited from the clean car discount are starting to filter down to the rest of us. I seldom use public chargers but I did yesterday in a supermarket carpark. Right next to me was an electric delivery van being used for a bakery. Looked ideal for a number of tradies. Many of the utes sold here are not for business, or not for businesses that need a ute - many for those that just want to project the image.
Seems to me that light rail, more people using public transport would be much better than the one individual per car & more roads. A change in attitude needed.
i have been waiting for the subsidy on e bikes. (with trailer to cart my garden tools and materials). but steadily realising that none of this is going to be enough. we need a major rethink of cities. but have to get better at picking and choosing experts. go hunting for examples where people have turned city suburbs into villages, turned housing developments into papakainga. we need to get more communal in lifestyles and decision making so we dont have to travel as much as individuals. And declare all caves as inhabitable community owned villages for the upcoming climate catastrophes before property speculators get their hands on them and start charging for shelter. maybe glass half empty is where we need to be. get better at holding hope and seeing the bigger picture of what needs to happen. interesting read and listen, thank you.
Having experienced the hell that is Lake rd on a Saturday morning - after playing football at the North Shore United grounds at the end of Lake rd - over 50 minutes to get back to the motorway , All I could think was that the locals put up with this nonsense daily.. how ???
My Co.Car is a Rav 4 Hybrid, it is using 5.1l per 100km they do make a difference
Yes I've gone to that ground too a few times, the Saturday morning traffic in appalling.
“I think we need to keep the politicians out of it, and put the experts in charge.”
Couldn’t agree more, in many places!
I think the big advantage of hybrids is when you’re sitting still they usually don’t have the motor running. Less pollution and waste.
Well, keep Nats and Act out of it as they waffle about charging stations, but know nothing of the handling the changes in the future--except to leave the hard work and public transport to someone else.
My son chooses to bike (non-e) from BHB to Takapuna most days, so he would love that bike lane over the bridge.
Most kiwis can't afford eCars, Nats are totally removed from that reality. And a secondhand eCar is NOT a good investment.
claim the lanes back from cars for mass walkers and riders!
Love the harp. Who can afford electric cars???
They will come down in price over time. But I think having a clean car subsidy has helped some people make the shift, even if to a hybrid at this stage.
Nick, love your work, but self charging cars? Really? Hybrid cars charge by using their internal combustion engine to generate electricity, plus a bit of regeneration when slowing down. Perpetual motion machines are a long way off.
Ha. I do appreciate a hybrid is not as good as a fully electric car, but they do use massively less fuel than a petrol one, therefore much lower emissions, and not having to charge them is very convenient. I'm sure fully electric is where we'll all go in time.
My hybrid Yaris uses far less petrol than my previous old Yaris. I saw it as a safe step on the way to full electric when the infrastructure is available. The clean car discount strongly influenced my decision to buy hybrid, plus it's an absolute pleasure to drive. Bikes aren't an option for me, so a dependable car is essential.
Climate Change is not the only thing we need to take out of the hands of politicians, thee are many more aspects of our lives and society that need to be treated with a long term vision.
Education, health, transport, defence......
But we will not be able to do that without the right tools. We are the only European style Western democracy to have neither a written constitution nor an upper house. If we had those tools, given modern technologies, we would be able to stop this ridiculous flip-flopping we see each election time.
By putting in place principles chosen by the people, and requiring government to work within those principles, we could ensure this countries future direction.
But we need the tools
But but but ... I'm not seeing any European style Western democracies with constitutions and upper houses having any less flip-flopping than Aotearoa New Zealand. Which countries are you thinking of?
Good point. If you have the tools you have to use them. It's not a guarantee of success on its own.
But the Ozzies call us a nation of sheep for a reason, and October will prove once again that we are happy to settle for sub-standard.
By engaging and enabling the people we can have a greater influence on the parties than by simply voting. When was the last time a party engaged the people to find out what they wanted? Not in my 50 years of voting. They GIVE US a choice of one or the other; that is not democracy.
Is this failing system and sub-standard policies really all we can pass on to our children?
I think not, but we have to face the reality of the failings we've been happy to accept si far and say we want better than this for our children.
I'm in Napier...when my (previously 20 minute) commute to Hastings each day started taking 1.25 hours, one boss said - just work form home, then other said, people in Auckland do it every day without complaint. They don't, lol...it was a major factor in my decision to leave. I work from home 2 days a week now, and the commute has improved since a new bridge was opened end of July.
My mum lived on Lake road for some years, and later she and my stepfather bought a house in Hillcrest, where Lake road was still a main route to get places. Congestion in that area has been an issue for a long time, but I am sure with Auckland's increased population, it is much,much worse now. Simeon Brown was on the Breakfast show this morning belligerently touting the Nats policy of putting electric Charging stations all over the country. He constantly ta;lked down, and over the Labour guy whose name has slipped my memory. He gave stats for how many Charging stations other countries have-many more than Aotearoa.What he did'n't acknowledge was that the govt. havetheir own policy to rol out Charging statios around the country- which they have a;ready started doing , but their budget for this is not as not as big as National's. The other pertinent factor he did not mention is that many NZers have garages with electricity, unlike other countries and charge their cars in their garage.
Well said, Nick. Fortunately for us in Devonport we have the ferry to the city which keeps cars off the road. Since the changes from Fullers to AT we have had a rough ride, with cancellations, but mostly we can get there and back. Recently I found a late night ferry cancelled and in order to get back to care for my husband, I had to taxi (couldn't uber due to not good enough software), and it was $75. So the ferry (free thanks to Winston) is the answer. Though I'm grateful for the free ferry, I could never vote NZ First. His views on immigration are awful - what would my elderly husband do without the wonderful carers/nurses from the Philippines, Sri Lanka (top two), China and India.
Ferries! That's what we need in Auckland. Imagine a ferry service going from downtown Auckland to pt Chev, Te Atatu, West Harbour, Hobbsonville, Beach Haven, Birkenhead, Northcote, Belmont, Stanley Point Devenport then back to the city. Then we still have that obligatory service between Devonport and the city. Just imagine. Or another just servicing the south and west sides straight into town or get off on the way. That's the only way most of us get to set foot on the water. As for the charging station networks they must be for the new National Roads of Significance!