“I think we’ve often been overlooked,” notes Elizabeth Yeaman, Founder and Managing Director of New Zealand-based Retyna, an independent consultancy focusing on electric vehicles and renewable energy for transport. “As a nation, we’re obviously a long way from Europe and America, and therefore haven’t sat front of mind when it comes to market and technological development. But that is changing.
“Now people are catching on to the idea that we have, in fact, the perfect test bed for new, future-focused solutions; with an open regulatory approach emphasizing safety principles, in tandem with clean, renewable energy, and a national identity honed on adapting to challenges to survive and prosper.”
Yeaman pauses for a moment, laughing that she doesn’t work for the national tourist authority (“honestly!”), but instead is simply keen to project a reality that she, more than most, has seen evolve at close hand.
“It’s an exciting time here,” she adds; “a time of real change… and real potential.”
Firm foundations
Yeaman founded Retyna to focus on renewable energy for transport – something she herself has spent 25 years doing. Prior to establishing Retyna she was General Manager of Transport at the New Zealand Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), with a lead role in the roll out of its Electric Vehicle Programme.
She is a keen supporter of the Government’s Zero Carbon Act, introduced in 2019, which aims to achieve net zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2050.
With an established renewable energy sector, powered chiefly by hydro, geothermal and wind sources, Yeaman believes the foundations for national change are firmly in place.
“We currently fluctuate between about 80 and 85 percent of electricity generated from renewable sources,” she explains, “and this will rise to 90 percent by 2025. The Renewable Energy Strategy work programme should, we hope, enable a figure of 100 percent by 2035. And that will charge the nation’s green transport sector.”
Multi-modal progress is already motoring along.
Accelerating adoption
The challenges of electrification for a private and public transport network spanning such a sparsely populated and naturally dramatic island nation are obvious. Long distances and isolated dwelling areas are not the most straightforward building blocks for a clean energy transition.
However, Yeaman says policy makers and private adopters are committed to rising to the challenge.
“An EECA Life Cycle Analysis report in 2015 showed that electric vehicles (EVs) have around 60 percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions than their petrol driven counterparts, rising to around 80 percent fewer emissions when driven in New Zealand, due to our renewables. That makes a very strong case for change in such a ‘car dependent’ nation (the country has the fourth highest per-capita car ownership rate in the world – 837 light vehicles per 1,000 people in 2019). In 2016, the Government announced its Electric Vehicles Programme to promote the uptake of EVs and, since that point, we’ve succeeded in getting around 30,000 on the road.”
Although this fell short of Government ambitions by around 50 percent, politicians are focused on addressing the issue and introduced a “feebate” scheme this summer (their winter) to lower EV prices, while extending road user charge exemption (the national road tax) to 2024.
“You have to remember that the 30,000 figure has been achieved without incentives so far, in a market where availability has been low and prices comparatively high,” Yeaman notes. “Since the feebate scheme was introduced we’ve seen EVs rise from 2-3 percent of car purchases to around 6 percent in the first month. So, we expect to see adoption accelerate now.”
When it does, owners can do the same, safe in the knowledge that a charging infrastructure is rapidly spanning out to serve them.
Here Yeaman explains that government policy has supported the installation of DC chargers every 75 km along state highways and, to date, coverage has reached around 95 percent: “That means inter-city travel is now perfectly achievable, even in lower range electric vehicles.”
Public commitment
While private transport is one, vital piece of the puzzle, the full picture requires focus on mass transport solutions as well. New Zealand’s government last year stated a requirement for all councils to purchase only zero emissions buses (also exempt from road user charges) by 2025, with the aim of completely decarbonizing the fleet by 2035. In a statement of ambition that Yeaman says is increasingly indicative of wider buy-in on climate goals, individual councils are already moving ahead of the transition curve.
New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, is heading the field, having already committed to no longer providing funding for new diesel buses from this year. In January 2021, the city unveiled a fleet of electric buses for the AirportLink service, while April 2021 saw the launch of an electric fleet for the CityLink routes. According to the city’s mayor, Phil Goff, the electrification of Auckland’s buses will stop around 93,000 tons of CO2 emissions entering the atmosphere every year when completed.
“Other cities, such as Wellington and Christchurch, are also making progress,” Yeaman states, “and it’s a transition that is widely supported by a climate conscious user group.”
New wave
However, the country’s comparative isolation of communities means buses aren’t for everyone. Ferries and domestic aviation also have a crucial role to play in the nation’s transport infrastructure.
Retyna’s founder says an openness to innovation and new solutions is driving change here too. The main (and iconic) Interislander service, linking Wellington on the North Island and Picton on the South, has recently ordered two new hybrid electric vessels to replace its three existing ships, reducing the overall carbon emissions of the fleet by 40 percent. The first will come online in 2025, with the second launching from Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in South Korea the following year. Interestingly, as well as carrying trucks, cars and passengers, the ferries will also transport freight trains between the country’s two main islands.
Smaller vessels, with shorter routes than the 3.5-hour island crossing, are already going electric – as shown by a project Yeaman is currently working on.
Retyna has had a role in the development of a new vessel for East by West Ferries, bridging Wellington’s picturesque harbor. Named Ika Rere, which is Māori for “flying fish”, it is the Southern Hemisphere’s first, fast, all-electric ferry, with a carbon-fiber hull and a 135 PAX capacity. Yeaman talks of the project with obvious pride:
“Covid has delayed the ferry, just as it’s impacted on so much in our lives,” she comments. “But sea trials are underway and we’re expecting it to start full operations later this year. It’s an exciting, locally built project that shows our ability to innovate nationally, while also supporting green innovation and testing from international players.”
And here she checks in for the theme of electric flight.
From science fiction to fact
“I think we’re curious, and maybe a little bold, by nature,” she smiles, “and that appeals to companies such as Wisk Aero, with is its autonomous, all electric, vertical take-off and landing air taxis here. These eVTOL craft ‘rise like a helicopter and fly like a plane’ and are being vaunted as the simple solution to getting stuck in traffic, ferrying passengers with maximum efficiency and a minimal carbon footprint.
“It’s a fascinating project, not to mention a very prestigious one,” Yeaman adds, “and, given New Zealand’s geography, could provide an ideal solution for bridging the gap between communities. Passenger trials are the next step, and it’ll be exciting to see how Wisk, working in partnership with the national Airspace Integration Trial Programme, takes this leap forwards.
“I think the whole aviation industry will be watching New Zealand with interest.”
Sounds investment
And, she adds, for more reasons that Wisk alone.
Yeaman also points to the fact that local carrier Sounds Air recently became one of the first commercial operators to place an order for all-electric passenger planes, with the intention of making zero emission passenger flights across the Cook Strait by 2026. The planes – 19 seat, ES-19 aircraft from Sweden’s Heart Aerospace – offer a 400 nautical mile range and battery recharging time of between 20 and 40 minutes.
“A lot of the flights here are relatively short hops,” Yeaman says, bringing the interview, and insightful regional overview, in for a final landing. “With that in mind it’s the perfect place for early adoption of such breakthrough technology, and will provide an interesting case study for wider international development.”
Other carriers, such as the national airline Air New Zealand, have also indicted they will now look into alternative fuels and technology for the future.
It’s a final piece of the puzzle that shows a climate conscious nation committed to going places fast…and cleanly. Yeaman hopes other countries, and industry stakeholders, will join them for the ride.
New Zealand: open for innovation
Population: 5,128,100 (2021 estimate)
Capital: Wellington
Largest city: Auckland (pop 1,470,000)
Area: 268,021 sq. km (main North and South islands, over 700 smaller islands)
Energy generation mix: 80-85 percent renewables
Transport network: 94,000 km road, 4,128 km railways, 39 airports (paved runways)
The system of government: constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
Climate goals: net zero emissions by 2050
