Carbon Dioxide Emissions Reduction in New Zealand Transport Sector

Carbon dioxide reduction from New Zealand transport sector can be reduced to 1990 levels if a wide range of methods are adopted such as fuel mix, electrification of vehicles and rail, and cycling. A comprehensive analysis of carbon dioxide emissions from electric, plug-in electric hybrid, hybrid and internal combustion engine vehicles was done under different scenarios. Five different models including each type of vehicle were chosen in this analysis. The main exercise for this analysis is to determine how much CO₂ can be reduced by PHEV’s and EV’s from the light passenger vehicles in New Zealand. It was found that that Toyota Prius, a plug-in hybrid vehicle, emits less CO₂ when compared to all different types of models. Since these vehicles are not manufactured in New Zealand the CO₂ emission due to manufacturing of the batteries and vehicles can be ignored. This means that if only the tail pipe CO₂ emission is taken into consideration, then there can be a reduction of 50 to 60 percent of CO₂ emission from transport sector in New Zealand if all light passenger vehicles are PHEV’s or EV’s. The uptake of PHEV’s and EV’s depends on the number of initiatives taken by the local and central government. Further analysis was done to determine the total ownership cost (TOC) of these vehicles. It was found that the capital cost and the battery cost plays a significant role in determining the total ownership cost for PHEV’s and EV’s. Based on estimates from the International Energy Agency there will be about 106 million PHEV’s and EV’s that will be sold in a year by 2050. With the current projected rate of lithium production, it will be difficult to meet the demand to manufacture lithium-ion batteries. A survey was also carried out at Hamilton Girl’s High School to determine the number of students that cycle to school. 450 students were surveyed, questions such as the mode of transport, the distance from school to their home, barriers to cycling, the engine size of the vehicle used to come to school and the suburb they live in were asked. This was done to estimate how much CO₂ emission can be reduced if students who are keen to cycle and live within 10km radius of the school cycle to school in Hamilton City area. About 20 percent of the students at Hamilton Girls’ High School are willing to cycle to school, however, according to them the major barrier to cycling was the safety followed by distance and cost of bicycles. If these barriers are minimised and they start cycling to school, about 60 tonnes of CO₂ can be reduced in a year only from HGHS students. If the sample size is applied to all the schools in the city and 20 percent of all secondary and intermediate students started cycling to school there would be a reduction of 6 percent CO₂ emissions from light passenger vehicles in Hamilton Cit