Good to see RadioNZÂ interviewing Charles Landry, an international authority on future planning for cities, and ways to make them more creative. He works with cities around the world and wrote ‘The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators’.
The latest Saab ad I think sums up nicely the dilemma we face. Here they are selling a car on the basis of good old grunt - grrrrrreen - in other words, let’s keep driving our cars really fast - with a shimmer of green.
The Australian Greens have taken the company to task for overstating their green credentials. Personally I am more annoyed that they are pushing the ‘lets drive fast message’ as part of the package. Good creative though!
I for one will be watching what Meridian actually do with their trial of electric cars. CEO Keith Turner says the company has been closely watching overseas
developments in electric vehicles, and is convinced that the technology
is about to reach a tipping point. According to Turner,
Meridian will be able to demonstrate renewable, zero-emission, certified carbon neutral mobility.
I’ll let Mr Turner know my address 
Was a bit surprised to spot this 3-wheel electric ute for sale on TradeMe.
Made in the China for the US market, has a FMVSS Safety Compliance Plate and is manufactured in RHD for NZ. These motorcycle utes are stable and easy to drive with 6 x 12V 100Ah Deep Cycle GEL SLA batteries, an on-board auto-off 12A charger and a 5KW DC series motor. Range is up to 25km and can be extended by opportunity charging or by using a portable generator in the tray to charge the batteries while driving.
Not quite the answer to my dreams though the four-seater version (pic to come) has more possibilities. Good to see some more options coming here.
Then again the new Lithium-ion powered Mini Cooper may not be in NZ for a while. Interesting though - but at US$25000 on top of the price of the standard Mini Cooper I think it will be a play thing for the celebs and Siliconaires for a while yet.
I also understand that the Reva mentioned in this post was given approval for testing in Western Australia earlier this year [ABC].
The Western Australian Government has approved a one-year trial of 50 small electric cars that produce zero emissions.
Western Australia will become the first state to trial the vehicles, provided the Federal Government permits the cars to be imported into the country.
Participants will have to pay about $15,000 for the cars and they will be restricted to roads with speed limits under 80 kilometres an hour.
Otherwise I understand there are efforts being made to re-establish the NZ Electric Vehicle Association.