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EV lolly-scramble for taxpayers' money

The government has just announced that it's throwing $3.7 million at a few lucky companies, with a view to increasing EV use in New Zealand.

Regular readers will know that I've long been an advocate of developing an indigenous EV "commuter vehicle" design and manufacturing business here in Godzone so you might think that I was pretty pleased to hear about this allocation of taxpayer money.

Well sadly, I'm not that impressed.

I can't help but get the impression that those receiving the funds were chosen on by way of the old-boy's network which has seen handouts given to the least deserving before.

Example?

Fisher and Paykel (the recipient of numerous government grants in the past) has been allocated $72,500 to install EV chargers at their premises. The rationale behind this is that it will encourage employees to use EVs rather than conventional vehicles.

Boy, I'd love to have seen the business case for that one!

Another WTF is the $402,000 given to Tourism Holdings to, amongst other things, "convert an electric van into a campervan".

Looking at the allocation table in the government's press release, it seems that there is no consistent strategy or plan in respect to the promotion of EVs in New Zealand.

This contestable fund (which I'd never heard of before) has been delivered with a scatter-gun approach. In true government style, they seem to have thrown money at whoever came up with the best story -- rather than looking beyond the spin, hype and bullshirt that was presented.

Why the hell are Coda going to be spending over a million dollars to build a one-off 58 tonne electric truck to move dairy products from Fonterra's factory to a railway yard for instance?

Instead of pouring cash into one-off projects, it would be far better to back a project that was set up to create an industry - such as the design and manufacture of small commuter EVs.

Building a $1m one-off doesn't actually solve any significant problem. However, creating an indigenous commuter EV industry solves many because it:

1. creates new jobs
2. better utilises existing motorways/roads
3. reduces dependence on fossil fuel imports
4. reduces carbon emissions
5. contributes to NZ's "green" image
6. provides exporting opportunities

Compare that with the benefits claimed for that $1m truck (of which taxpayers are going to be stumping up $500K.

Okay, we're not going to get an indigenous EV industry kick-started with $3.7m but why not offer $1m of that as a technology prize for whoever comes up with an EV concept vehicle that would tick all the boxes and which could be manufactured at a low enough cost right here in NZ?

Regular readers will again know that I'm a great proponent of technology challenges as a way of leveraging a small amount of taxpayer money to produce a massive amount of R&D and private-sector investment in a particular area.

Sadly, it seems as if governments have learned nothing from the ongoing trail of wasted funds and poor choices when it comes to technology projects and public investment in same (Martin Jetpack anyone?).

Maybe I should apply for that job as the government's technology officer :-)

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