Amid environmental concerns, are the days of diesel in NZ numbered?

January 30, 2020

AA’s Mark Stockdale talked to us about the fuel, as cities in Germany and the UK ban diesel vehicles.

The days of diesel cars are could be numbered with some cities overseas banning them.

Here in New Zealand, NIWA says Wellington's air quality would be better without them and the Government’s replacing its ministerial diesel cars.

In England, Bristol is set to become the first British city to ban diesel vehicles next year, following bans in the German cities of Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart, and Darmstadt.

The Automobile Association’s Mark Stockdale told Seven Sharp what he thinks the future holds for the nearly 650,000 light diesel vehicles on Kiwi roads.

“There are no plans to ban diesel in New Zealand, instead the Government is looking at incentivising the uptake of low emission vehicles, like electric and hybrid,” Mr Stockdale said.

He said we may need to do something about the old diesel vehicles but that would likely involve a targeted approach and not a blanket ban.

However, when asked if there is a future for diesels, Mr Stockdale said car manufacturers are scaling down production of them which will lessen the range available.

“But diesel provides more torque which we use for towing etc and trucks will still need that for very heavy vehicles so there’s stills going to be a place for those kinds of vehicles in New Zealand for quite some time,” he said.

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