New Zealand plans to subsidize electric vehicle purchases to curb emissions

New Zealand has announced a strategy to subsidize electric vehicle purchases in the country in a bid to curb vehicular emissions. The country aims to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and expects 30 per cent of its light vehicle fleet to become all-electric by 2035. As part of the plan, the New Zealand government will allocate $357 million on a trial basis to help the lower-income families to ditch their old internal combustion engine vehicles and buy hybrids or EVs.

The government aims to make the country's transport sector more environmentally friendly, said New Zealand's minister of transport Michael Wood. Speaking about the strategy, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that this will be a landmark in the country's transition to a low emissions future. “We’ve all seen recent reports on sea-level rise and its impact right here in New Zealand. We cannot leave the issue of climate change until it’s too late to fix," she added.

The New Zealand government has also said that it will increase investments in electric vehicle charging infrastructure and provide a clean vehicle discount to encourage the purchase of low-emission vehicles. New Zealand is not the only country that is promoting electric mobility and encouraging electric vehicle purchases by offering subsidies to consumers. Several other countries across the world have adopted similar strategies to promote electric mobility 9in an attempt to reduce their carbon footprints.

Vehicular emissions are considered one of the key contributors to air pollution. Electric vehicles being equipped with zero tailpipe emission technology, emit no pollutants into the air, unlike their internal combustion engine-powered counterparts. This is the reason why several countries around the world are promoting electric vehicles and electric mobility at large.