New Zealand Green Investment Finance (NZGIF) and NZ Post have signed a $20 million financing agreement to accelerate the transition of the NZ Post fleet and its delivery contractors’ vehicles to electric vans and low emissions vehicles.
NZGIF is providing financing of $10m and NZ Post $10m through NZGIF majority owned subsidiary Sustainable Fleet Finance (SFF). NZGIF was established by the New Zealand Government to accelerate investment that supports low carbon initiatives.
NZ Post has set a target to have 100% of its own fleet and 25% of its contractor fleet electric by 2025 and the balance of the contractor fleet electric by 2030.
Contractors will also be able to access grant funding from NZ Post’s EV Incentive Scheme.
This investment will initially be used to finance an order for 60 Mercedes-Benz eVito panel vans and discussions with other OEMs are also ongoing.
The vans will arrive in New Zealand in the second half of 2022 and mark the beginning of a four-year tiered lease plan, where a vehicle leased by NZ Post can then be offered, by SFF, to contractors as second and third owners.
The idea is, as a vehicle moves down the model it becomes more affordable for each subsequent owner.
NZGIF chief executive Craig Weise says it’s an innovative financing solution to help NZ Post continue its climate leadership.
“This is a great collaboration between like-minded organisations. NZ Post have committed to being carbon neutral from 2030 and the electrification of their fleet and the contractor fleet is pivotal to this.
“Transport makes up about a fifth of the country’s carbon footprint, and most of that comes from the light vehicle fleet – cars, vans and utes.
“This deal will help our decarbonisation goals both by helping NZ Post achieve their goals but also by giving the second-hand commercial EV market the kickstart it needs,” Weise says.
Switching to e-vans for courier deliveries made sense because there are models available that are well suited to the task, he says.
“Vehicles that will be available will meet pre-determined criteria from NZ Post to make sure they are fit for purpose. So, through this initiative we are bringing in a proven technology that hasn’t made it to New Zealand yet.”
NZ Post chief executive David Walsh says partnering with NZGIF aligns perfectly with the company’s goal to be carbon neutral from 2030.
“We know that while an electric vehicle costs a lot less to run, the initial purchasing cost can be a barrier. Because of this, NZ Post is making up to half a million dollars available each year to help our delivery contractors invest in these eco-friendly vans.”
NZ Post’s owned delivery fleet already includes over 400 Paxster electric vehicles. There are also over 35 electric passenger cars. Over the last 24 months NZ Post has also been trialling electric vans and understanding their use under operational conditions as well as implementation needs. This has included LDVs, Nissan and Renaults.
The combined NZ Post and contractor fleet covers approximately 2131 vehicles with 80% being light vans and 81% having diesel engines. There are around 1916 vehicles in the contractor fleet.
Each diesel van replaced with an EV will abate an average of 7.8 tonnes of carbon emissions per annum.
