Electric cars have only a small toehold in New Zealand, but one expert says the country could one day have millions of them on the road and they'll be powered by the wind.
Dr. Bruce Smith, director of modeling and marketing at the country's Electricity Commission, says EVs could triple New Zealand's capacity for wind power by increasing the efficiency of its electrical grid, according to the New Zealand Herald.
Cars with cords aren't widely available in New Zealand, but the
Blade Electron (a converted Hyundai Getz) and Mitsubishi iMiEV are among the models starting to appear there. In an effort to jump-start the adoption of EVs, the government plans to waive road-usage fees for the vehicles because it considers them a great way to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
To maximize the eco-benefits, though, the electricity has to be renewable. Although 70 percent of New Zealand's power comes from sustainable sources, wind acccounted for just 3 percent of the country's power generation during the third quarter of last year, according to the New Zealand Wind Energy Association.
That is expected to climb, and Smith says electric cars could accelerate the process.
If 2.5 million of the country's 4 million cars ran on electricity, he says, the whole fleet could run on 3,000 megawatts of power. That's three times the amount of wind power currently available or slated for construction, according to the Herald.
But Smith says electric cars could make it possible to build a lot more wind turbines by solving one of the technology's shortcomings - most wind power is generated at night, when there is little demand for it. Cars like the iMiEV, he says, could plug in to "smart meters" at night and charge their batteries, then return some of that energy to the grid at peak times. He says increasing the use of wind power is economically feasible only if the price of carbon hit $60 a ton (about $34 U.S.).
Photo: Flickr / pbo31
