Westpac NZ supports government take up of Electric Vehicles

5 May 2016

Westpac NZ supports government take up of Electric Vehicles

Westpac NZ welcomes the government's package of measures to support the take up of electric vehicles (EVs) announced today.

Westpac General Manager Commercial, Corporate and Institutional, Karen Silk, said, "We welcome the government package which offers some tangible steps to support increased uptake of EVs in New Zealand,"

Westpac has recently started an EV trial with the first of five cars in operation.

It has also launched a leasing product to its corporate and institutional customers to make EVs more accessible to them and to ultimately help create a secondary market for New Zealand consumers.

On a standard lease term the total cost to run compares well with a petrol run vehicle.

Large New Zealand organisations such as Westpac now have the opportunity to lead by example and start introducing EVs into their fleets.

Pool car fleets are the logical starting point as the cars travel low kilometres and enable a range of staff to experience driving them.

"EVs have the potential to generate operating savings and other commercial benefits for businesses and could significantly help New Zealand meet its emissions reduction target.

"As a sustainable company, we want to reduce our own emissions and we also want to help other companies do the same through green finance products like our lease offering," Ms Silk says.

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