As I mentioned over in the community, an acquaintance (who happens to be converting his Mini to electric power) points out that for the next four years, drivers of fully electric vehicles will pay no road user charges. The only cost will be the electricity, and vehicle registration (at about NZ$200 per year).

Additionally, after having issues with proprietary software and controllers, a NZ based EV builder (greenstage.co.nz) has recently kicked off the Tumanako Open Source project to create the necessary hardware and software to drive and charge EVs:

The Tumanako Project is an Open Source development effort to produce Open Source hardware and software to drive and recharge electric vehicles. Tu manako is M?ori for hope & togetherness.

Sure, EVs are currently not cheap, whether you buy them complete or convert them yourself. Here’s hoping these announcements, combined with the small but growing EV enthusiast community in New Zealand will get our stators charged and our rotors spinning.

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Tags: Electric Vehicles, Environment, Politics