I recently had the pleasure of attending the opening morning of the NZ Transport Fuels and Fleet Management Summit, held at the Sky City Convention Centre on October 18-19.
The summit was opened by minister of transport, Simon Bridges, who spoke about the Government’s EV strategies and roading congestion issues, especially around the Auckland region.
Minister Bridges was able to confirm that EV registrations have met 2000 in the fleet, and corporates have committed to another 2000 units.
MBIE is now working with EV suppliers for the Government Fleet Procurement programme.
The message about congestion is that we have to be smarter and embrace new technologies to better manage our roading infrastructure.
Minister Bridges mentioned that he had attended the ITS World Congress in Melbourne the previous week, and there were exciting developments in these new technologies that New Zealand is poised to be able to take advantage of.
One of the things he is watching with interest is the new initiatives Singapore is introducing on road pricing.
I questioned him on why New Zealand has not adopted the same rules about driving to the left in multi-lane settings, with heavy motor vehicles required to stay in the left lane unless passing (using only the second lane for passing manoeuvres), and all other traffic also keeping left unless passing, while permitting them to pass in the outside lanes.
Minister Bridges agreed that this is something he would like to see, and he has taken it up with NZTA.
Mike Noon from NZAA was next up, and called for a task force to be set up to combat congestion.
He went on to cover off the AA’s position, noting that demands for transport and mobility are only going to increase, particularly in our major cities, with investment being required in all modes.
Given New Zealand is a technology follower, especially considering our special opportunities for EVs with our renewable energy sources, he called for transport legislation to be enabling rather than prescriptive.
He described the four current ‘super trends’ as Shared, Connected, EVs and Autonomous.
David Crawford of the MIA followed on, pointing out that New Zealand’s share of the world market for vehicles is 0.14% of worldwide production.
He noted that we will be a receiver of technology, and should have a rapid uptake of Assist-Technology in our new vehicle fleet.
Craig Pomare of the MTA spoke of the challenges for the repair industry with the changes to hybrid and EV technologies.
These included the need for industry training so there are sufficient trained and competent technicians available in New Zealand to manage the changes in vehicle power-train technology we are seeing now and in the future.
MTA and other industry associations including MIA and IMVIA are all working with MITO to ensure that effective training will be delivered.
Craig also touched on the problems in enticing school leavers into the motor trade.
Many careers advisors don’t see the trade as sexy, and steer students instead towards the professions and technology, and we need to change attitudes in the education sector.
Ken Shirley of the Road Transport Federation spoke on issues affecting the transport sector, and made the statement: “Trucks don’t cause congestion, cars do.
” It was also commented that many of the motor vehicles coming into the country are trucked off the port at night and early morning to avoid congestion; in many cases doing four or five round trips in a shift, rather than just the one to two round trips that can be achieved during daylight hours.
Stuart Frazer of Frazer Lindstrom gave an address on the Paris 2020 Agreement and emissions targets, referring to the Kyoto Protocol procedures as a “clusterf***”.
He proposed that there needs to be something better, and that the Paris agreement could be that — but noted that everything hinges on the worldwide prices for carbon, especially with the EU carbon price changes and the need for “environmental integrity” in international emissions trading.
Following on from Stuart, Z Energy presented on the development of its new bio-fuel processing plant at Wiri.
It has a number of major fleets involved with its trials (including Fulton Hogan) and has not encountered any major problems introducing the tallow-based FAME (fatty acid methyl esther) biofuel into these fleets: drivers have reported no difference in performance, nor any unexpected mechanical problems.
The fuel specification allows for a B5 blend (5% biofuel) to be sold at the pumps, but users who take bulk deliveries can specify a higher percentage (normally B8) if they desire.
The installation at Wiri is a multi-million dollar investment which can process high- and low-grade tallow, has the capability for expansion, and is located close to the WOSL oil distribution facility.
Z believes that there will still be oil available even when the “EV evangelists” have transformed the vehicle fleet.
