NSW to trial i-MiEV

THE NSW government has established an electric vehicle (EV) taskforce to trial Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV with a view to reducing the carbon footprint of its 26,000 vehicles.

Announced on March 30 by the NSW deputy premier and minister for climate change and commerce, Carmel Tebbutt, who was last week tipped to take over from Nathan Rees as premier at the next state election in 2011, the taskforce will also look at barriers that may exist to the introduction of EVs.

“We currently have a requirement for government fleets to source one per cent of their vehicles to be hybrids, so we've shown that we are willing to change the nature of our fleet to make it more environmentally sustainable,” said Ms Tebbutt.

Mitsubishi’s four-seat i-MiEV city-car, which is already on sale in Japan and is being demonstrated to potential government department and fleet buyers around Australia, will be evaluated by the NSW department of environment and climate change.

Ms Tebbutt said her department’s trial of Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV, which could go on sale in Australia next year as the nation’s first fully-electric vehicle from as little as $35,000, showed the NSW government was committed to ‘green’ technology for its vehicle fleet.

“In the future, electric vehicles could offer a viable alternative to conventionally-fuelled cars for everyday transport, especially around the inner city and we’re keen to evaluate their potential,” she said.

“The NSW government fleet has about 26,000 vehicles, so there is potential for electric cars to make massive savings in carbon emissions.

“Green and hybrid technology vehicles have more than doubled in number in the StateFleet to 370 since 2005 and more efficient small and medium cars now make up the majority of cars in the fleet.

“We are setting up this taskforce to conduct a review of the technology, look at infrastructure policy, and the legislation that surrounds electric vehicles and may impact on the market for them.”

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