The Wellington City Council will launch its electric vehicle trial this month.Five Mitsubishi i-MiEV plug-ins are on the way over from Japan, with another three to five scheduled to arrive before the end of the year.
The Wellington City Council will launch its electric vehicle trial this month.
Five Mitsubishi i-MiEV plug-ins are on the way over from Japan, with another three to five scheduled to arrive before the end of the year.
The trial will run on individual lease arrangements, with one car to be retained for council use and the rest supplied to local business partners.
The council, which allocated about $50,000 towards the trial in its draft annual plan, met with representatives from a range of manufacturers earlier this year, including Nissan.
WCC spokesman Chris Cameron said that the choice of Mitsubishi as initial trial partner did not preclude future contracts with other manufacturers.
“We want to try a range,” he said.
The council will use the trial to assess potential for wider-scale electric vehicle deployment, including what and where charging infrastructure will be needed.
It is hoped that several charging points will be built around the city.
Mr Cameron expected that the bonus of being the first city in New Zealand to run a fleet of electric vehicles would reflect positively on Wellington’s international image.
He was confident that electric vehicles have a viable future in New Zealand.
The i-MiEV, not yet available in New Zealand, currently retails for $US42,130 in Japan. Mitsubishi intends to bring the price down to $US21,890 by fiscal 2012.
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