Wellington has become the first New Zealand city to trial production electric cars.
We’re working with Wellington City Council, Mitsubishi Motors, New Zealand Post Group and The Wellington Company to trial Mitsubishi iMiEVs in Wellington for the next two years.
This trial is a rare opportunity for a renewable-electricity company to help showcase a new era of clean and environmentally-responsible transport.
The growing awareness of both the economic and environmental cost of burning fossil fuels means the search for viable transport alternatives has become a priority world-wide.
With so much of our electricity produced from renewable sources, electric vehicles offer New Zealand a real opportunity to reduce harmful emissions and make a real contribution to a cleaner, healthier environment.
Tim Lusk, CE Meridian Energy.
Meridian and Mitsubishi New Zealand embarked on a nationwide trial of the iMiEV electric vehicle in 2009. We covered seven towns and cities across the nation, giving thousands of kiwis the chance to drive this exciting evolution in personal transportation.
We put some well-known New Zealanders into the vehicle to see what they thought and their reactions speak for themselves:
"This car gets the Mad Butcher's seal of approval" - The Mad Butcher
"It's so quiet; you can't even tell it's on!" - Tiki Tane
"We can just sit at this light and not get anxious about the exhaust!" - Laurie Foon
"It's a real city car this one isn't it" - Christine Prince
"It gets along alright doesn't it" - Ewen Gilmour
"It's quite futuristic isn't it" - Philip Kraall
"It has a feeling of cleanliness" - Philip Kraall
We hope to see more electric vehicles on New Zealand roads in the near future.