Electric car banned in New Zealand because of ... the steering wheel

Filed under: Etc., EV/Plug-in, Legislation and Policy

What's more important to the government of New Zealand, zero emissions or safety? If you ask Ulrich Schmid (pictured), he'll say that putting electric vehicles on the roads in Aotearoa is not a priority.

Schmid has spent two years trying to import a $45,000 EV from Switzerland (the article doesn't specify which EV, but it might be the Smart EV). The problem is that this car has the steering wheel on the wrong side (or the Kiwis drive on the wrong side, depending on your POV) and so Schmid needs to get a special exemption to import the car. The government says that these exemptions are reserved for "classical and unique vehicles," i.e., cars that aren't regularly driven. Because Schmid wants to use the EV on a daily basis, he can't use it at all. What a world.

Related:

• New Zealand's Meridian Energy will test electric cars on a "small scale" in 2008

[Source: Simon O'Rourke / New Zealand Herald via EV World]

 

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