New Zeeland approves 22 new low emission vehicles projects, including hydrogen
The New Zealand government approved 22 new low-emission transport projects, announced by Dr Megan Woods, the Energy and Resources Minister on 10th February. These projects include five hydrogen trucks, a demonstration electric truck, car share scheme, and EV charging stations.
Hyundai will purchase and deploy five zero-emission Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric trucks into real-world daily logistics operation trials. Hyundai will receive NZ$ 500,000 (US$ 361,000) in funding.
Dr Woods said, “Demonstrating and proving the potential for electric and heavy hydrogen vehicles is important, as heavy freight has an outsized impact on transport emissions.”
The Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund (LEVCF) will contribute NZ$ 3.7 million (US$ 2.7 million) to the projects, with the 22 recipients contributing a total of NZ$ 9.4 million (US$ 6.8 million ) in Round 9. The next round which would be number10 will open in March/April 2021.
The Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund offers up to NZ$ 6.5 million (US$ 4.7 million) a year to various projects to support electric vehicles (EVs) and other low emission vehicles. The fund is administered by the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).
In total, the LEVCF has co-funded over 600 public EV chargers, of which more than 450 are operational. EECA has committed NZ$ 29.4 million (US$ 21.2 million) in government funding to 180 projects, matched by NZ$ 62 million (US 44.8 million) in applicant funding.
H2 Bulletin research shows that in Round 5, Ports of Auckland Ltd was awarded NZ$ 250,000 (US$ 181,000 ). As part of its hydrogen fuel demonstration project, Ports of Auckland together with its partners (Auckland Transport, Auckland Council and KiwiRail) procured hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (EECA funding goes toward one bus and up to three cars). The vehicles intended to be used and tested as part of the wider hydrogen demonstration project in Auckland.
