Clean Car Discount set to save two million tonnes of CO2

Tuesday, 14 March 2023

The Clean Car Programme came into full effect on April 1. Here is what you need to know about the new discounts and fees. (Video first published on March 31, 2022)

New data has emerged from the non-profit EV organisation Drive Electric showing the Clean Car Discount (CCD) has caused a huge reduction in average CO2 emissions.

According to Ministry of Transport figures, in the year prior to the introduction of the Clean Car Discount on 1 July 2021, the average emissions of newly registered vehicles had been stable, averaging 187.3 g/km.

From 1 July 2021, the start of the Clean Car Discount, to 31 January 2023, 490,000 vehicles have been registered with average emissions of 166.9 g/km, a reduction of 20g/km.

The Clean Star Discount has dropped average emissions by 20g/km, which will amount to two tonnes of CO2 saved.

Drive Electric says this will amount to two million tonnes saved over the course of the lifetime of those vehicles. This is based on the Ministry of Transport’s figures of the average vehicle in New Zealand driving 10,500km each year and leaving the fleet at 20 years old.

**READ MORE:

Electric vehicles like the BYD Atto 3 (pictured) and Tesla Model Y benefit greatly from the Discount.

* The Clean Car Programme - what you need to know

* Drive Electric launches new website

Under the sliding scale system introduced in April 2022, hybrids also get a slice of the rebate pie.

* Second-hand EVs surge in popularity

* What exactly does the Clean Car Discount mean for car buyers?

“Kiwis have really embraced low emissions vehicles since the Clean Car Discount came in,” Drive Electric chair, Mark Gilbert, told Stuff. “The cars already bought under that scheme will avoid up to two million tonnes of future emissions, compared to the average emissions of vehicles before the scheme.

”The cars New Zealand imports today will still be with us 10, 20, 30 years in the future. So, it's really important we make the switch to low-emissions vehicles now. By importing clean vehicles today, we are cutting emissions for years to come.'

The current emissions level of new vehicles also means the policy is saving nearly 200,000 tonnes of emissions per month when compared to the average before the scheme was introduced.

Before the first version of the Discount was introduced – back when EVs got the full $8625 rebate and PHEVs got half that, but the sliding scale to include low-emission combustion vehicles wasn’t used – the average CO2 emitted per car hovered between 185g/km and 188g/km.

The subsidy dropped that to an average of about 182g/km, including the slight anomaly of March 2022 when many people bought higher-polluting vehicles before the ‘fee’ part of ‘feebate’ kicked in. April 2022’s introduction of the sliding scale saw a massive drop to 132g/km, before rising to the current average of 148.77g/km. This is below the current Clean Car Standard target.

'The 21% reduction in average emissions of vehicles entering the fleet is far better than expected,” Gilbert added.

'The Clean Car Discount and Standard are working and need to continue, alongside other measures, like getting the settings right so we can invest in charging infrastructure and encouraging car fleets to rapidly transition.'