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Battery electric vehicles

In 2023, petrol and diesel on-road transport contributed 39% of Wellington city's gross greenhouse gas emissions. Transitioning away from fossil fuelled vehicles to zero emission electric vehicles will significantly reduce our transport greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are 'pure electrics' – they're powered only by electrical energy stored in the battery. A BEV has no exhaust pipe or exhaust pipe emissions.

BEVs, and the associated available driving range, have been significantly improving over recent years and are fit for purpose for a range of activities. The public charging network infrastructure is also expanding to cater for very long journeys out of Wellington if these types of journeys are required on occasion.

There are also an increasing number of BEVs that provide 'vehicle to load' and/or 'vehicle to grid' functionality so the vehicle can be used as a mobile power source to supply electricity to an external device, equipment or facility. This can be very useful for a range of activities including in civil emergency situations.

Read more about the different types of electric vehicles (PC Mag).

Benefits of BEVs

Some advantages of battery electric vehicles are:

• Lower operational and maintenance costs compared to fossil fuelled vehicles.
• Zero exhaust emissions.
• Over their life cycle, battery electric cars can emit much less carbon than fossil fuelled cars, even when considering raw material extraction, battery manufacture, vehicle manufacture and shipping. As the technologies develop, this is also expected to reduce further over time.
• Vehicle batteries, once they reach their ‘use-by date’ for vehicle use (approximately over 10 years), can be used for electricity storage for off-grid networks, homes and businesses as stationary energy batteries. After many years of use as stationary energy batteries they can then be recycled.
• Can be re-charged with electricity on the driveway or in the home garage.
• Quieter on the road than fossil fuelled vehicles. 

What the Council is doing

EV First fleet initiative

As part of our Te Atakura (First to Zero) implementation plan, we aim to replace all Council owned fossil fuel driven cars, SUVs, vans and utes with zero emission electric vehicles by December 2030, as well identifying opportunities to reduce the size of the Council’s vehicle fleet overall.

Electric vehicle charging

As part of our Charged up Capital programme, we have installed public electric vehicle chargers at many Council-controlled properties.

For a list of all charging locations visit plugshare.com

If a non-electric vehicle is preventing the use of a public charger, make a parking complaint.