Katene Rahui: Road User Charges Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Katene Rahui: Road User Charges Amendment Bill — First Reading 
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RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 There was a line in a song from a movie that used to represent the dizzy heights of aspiration we might reach in thinking about the latest trends in cars. The song went: 
Why this car is automatic 
it’s systematic 
it’s hydromatic 
Why it’s greased lightning 
With this bill today that song becomes so last century. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Sing it. 
RAHUI KATENE 
: I do not need to; I have my backing group right here. Once this bill goes through the song we will be singing is: “This car is electric.” or to be more precise: “This car is a motor vehicle whose motor power is wholly or partly derived from an external source of electricity and whose gross laden weight is 3.5 tonnes or less.” 
It may not be a chart-topper but the electric car is destined to revolutionise many homes faster than even greased lightning. Although to be clear it is not as though these electric cars are breaking the sound barrier with the speeds they can muster. The 2008 model Subaru R1e electric car I understand has a range of 50 miles and a top speed of 62 miles per hour. What is revolutionary about these cars is that they can be charged overnight on an ordinary household current. One just plugs it in next to the toaster. 
The bill we are debating today will enable regulations to be made that effectively exempt light electric cars from road-user charges. The hope is that by amending the Road User Charges Act with this legislation New Zealanders will be rushing out to purchase such vehicles along with the Minister. 
The current road-user charges for a light electric car weighing 3.5 tonnes or less are $36.07 per 1000 kilometres. In sum this costs the owner of a light electric car approximately $432 per annum based on an average travelling distance of 12000 kilometres per year. So why would the masses rush out to join the Hon Nick Smith in hopping into one of these new electric cars? Top on the score card must be the impact electric cars have on preserving our clean green image in Aotearoa. In essence an electric car is an alternative fuel car that uses electric motors and motor controllers instead of an internal combustion engine. They are far more energy efficient in that they can recapture the energy of braking with the electric motor becoming a generator. Electric cars also create less pollution than gasoline-powered cars so they are an environmentally friendly alternative to gasoline-powered vehicles. Particulate or chemical pollution from exhausts will belong to the days of the past. 
Electric cars are also far quieter we have heard than conventional internal combustion engine vehicles with no exhaust no vibration and no noise. That becomes important in the context of carbon dioxide emissions. New Zealand’s total greenhouse gas emissions are the 12th highest per capita in the world. Within that transport emissions currently represent around half of the emissions from the energy sector and are growing at an unsustainable rate. Bold action is required. 
This is all well and good but the big question that has to be asked is how realistic is it that we will be seeing these flash electric cars cruising in Murupara or even in Ahipara some time soon. The  
New Zealand Transport Strategy 
 which was launched last August set the very broad target that New Zealand should become one of the first countries in the world to widely use electric vehicles. That is great but the strategy was a strategy without any actual dates and numbers of vehicles to be in the fleet. But most important of all it was a strategy with no funding attached. At the beginning of the year Mitsubishi and Hyundai unveiled their latest models promoting these new electric cars as costing about a third less than a petrol car to run. Indeed if we were to believe the promos Hyundai’s Blade Electron can travel 100 kilometres for just $1. That is pretty impressive. 
Hone Harawira 
: That’s awesome. 
RAHUI KATENE 
: Yes but so is the price tag at around $55000. The Ministry of Transport has confirmed as if we did not know that these vehicles will be expensive. Its 2007 paper  
Electric Vehicles and New Zealand—Identifying Potential Barriers and Future Considerations 
 put the aspect of cost into the wider context. It concluded that buying a new car is already financially beyond many New Zealanders and electric vehicles are not at the low end of the cost scale. Unless prices fall dramatically or second-hand Japanese imports start appearing the current generation of vehicles is simply too expensive to allow a widespread uptake. Maori are even more unlikely to be able to splash out on an electric car. Maori average hourly wages at $17.58 lag well behind the general economy at $21.41. In general the Maori working population is also younger and less qualified than other groups thereby increasing the risk of their vulnerability in the recession with the threat of job losses. 
We may be on the brink of an exciting energy revolution but it is revolution for the rich. And it is not looking like it will change quickly. Global production of light electric cars is very low and will remain so for the next 10 years. The current prediction is that by 2020 only 5 percent of new car sales will be for electric cars. Low-income earners and families will be the last to be able to afford to purchase electric cars and the last to benefit from the fact that once the initial purchase price has been met light electric cars are cheaper to run than conventional internal combustion engines. 
Until economies of scale start to reduce prohibitive battery costs early electric cars will have a price premium of roughly double to quadruple that of a conventional car. If that is not bad enough marginalised communities will become even more vulnerable to rising petrol costs as oil gets more expensive. However never let it be said that the Maori Party will not leap at the opportunity to take up an initiative if it is in the best interests of the people. 
There are many advantages to be said for the establishment of electric cars. We know that they will decrease the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels improve energy security and reduce vehicular emissions affecting air quality and greenhouse gas levels. With 40 percent of New Zealand’s carbon dioxide emissions coming from vehicles and with peak oil upon us there is an urgent need to reduce dependency on oil. 
Hone Harawira 
: It’s urgent urgent. 
RAHUI KATENE 
: It is very urgent. There is no question that these electric cars will make a difference—they will—and because of that we support the decision to exempt electric cars from road-user charges as one strategy that can help encourage New Zealanders to venture into such innovative frontier technology. But it must be a case of a vote that is “Yes but.” Yes we support it but until wider penetration happens transport spending needs to focus on sustainable and affordable alternatives particularly for low-income earners and families. Kia ora.