
$265 Million Private Capital Unlocked Through Low Emission Transport Fund
The programme, administered by EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority), was revised in 2021, expanding the remit of its predecessor the Low Emissions Vehicle Contestable Fund (LEVCF), which launched in 2016. Projects approved for funding in the LETF's final rounds – 14, 15 and 16 – have been announced today.
Richard Briggs, EECA's Group Manager – Delivery and Partnerships, said the LETF had unlocked an extraordinary amount of private capital for projects that would not have happened as quickly or at all, as well as lowered organisations' operating costs by improving energy efficiency and productivity.
'The programmes demonstrated the benefits for business in making the switch to low or zero-emissions vehicles, machines, and vessels, showing others in their sectors what's possible and viable.'
Briggs said the rapid acceleration of energy-efficient transport technologies had reduced the risk for early adopters and the need for this type of support. As such, the LETF had wound down to a natural end.
Milestone projects include the world's first electric milk tanker (Fonterra) and electric hydrofoil ferry in commercial operation (Vessev and Fullers 360).
The fund supported New Zealand's first hydrogen-powered truck (NZ Post) and truck (Auckland Transport), first electric double-decker buses (Tranzit, Metlink, Greater Wellington Regional Council) and first electric supermarket delivery vans (Foodstuffs).
The LETF also co-funded around half of New Zealand's 1300+ public EV chargers, with almost 700 more in the pipeline. These include the country's first high-speed DC chargers (ChargeNet).
Briggs said EECA continued to support the heavy vehicle sector to improve its energy efficiency and lower operating costs through the Low Emissions Heavy Vehicle Fund, which offers grants of up to 25% of the purchase price of a new zero-emissions heavy vehicle, or 25% of the cost to convert an existing ICE vehicle to be power by zero or low-emissions technologies.
EECA would ensure successful delivery of previously co-funded projects, as well as provide data on EV charging infrastructure and fuel use across the transport sector, Briggs said.
'EECA is New Zealand's lead agency and expert voice on energy use and we're continuing to evolve to ensure we're best placed to support the market.'
A full list of approved projects for LETF rounds 14, 15 and 16 can be found below.
Notes:
LETF and LEVCF by the numbers
17 funding rounds across LEVCF and LETF, since 2016
359 contracts approved for funding
$100,487,332 in government co-investment approved
$265,466,603 in private capital committed.
Approved projects for Low Emission Transport Rounds 14, 15, and 16
Round 16 approved projects
Round 16 of the LETF launched on 3 February 2025 for Vehicles, Technology, Off-road and Marine. The round closed on 24 March 2025. EECA has approved five projects that would allocate co-funding of $469,159.
Beacon Marine Limited, $23,100: Beacon Marine will partner with Pahi Oysters to demonstrate an electric motor on an existing oyster barge.
Naut Limited $191,206: Naut will partner with an aquaculture business to demonstrate a fully integrated electric vessel, offering a low-emission alternative for an industry that has traditionally depended solely on internal combustion engines (ICE).
Cascade New Zealand Limited, $60,403: Cascade New Zealand will demonstrate electric forklift attachments as an alternative to hydraulic options which requires significantly less energy to operate. When used on an electric forklift, the energy reduction will enable less power usage and longer cycle time.
3i OPCO Limited, $160,150: 3I OPCO will demonstrate an electric excavator which will work within the holds of vessels to unload cargo.
Beacon Marine Limited, $46,300: Beacon Marine with partner with Explore Group will demonstrate an inboard electric conversion of their America's Cup tour experience boat from diesel propulsion to a fully electric system.
Round 15 approved projects
Round 15 of the LETF launched on 18 November 2024 for Ports. The round closed on 10 February 2025. EECA has approved five projects that would allocate co-funding of $1,630,742.
Lyttelton Port Company Limited, $333,392: Lyttelton Port Company will demonstrate shore to ship power by upgrading electrical infrastructure on LPC's inner harbour jetties to provide shore power to visiting vessels and accurately track energy usage and emissions reductions.
CentrePort Limited, $350,000: CentrePort will demonstrate a system that can control how and when electricity resource is consumed. It will unlock electricity supply capacity to enable electrification of CentrePort's heavy electric vehicles fleet to continue without triggering wider network reinforcement.
Port of Tauranga Limited, $447,000: Port of Tauranga will test an electric straddle carrier at Port of Tauranga to examine its feasibility in a New Zealand port context.
Otago Port Limited, $343,000: Otago Port will deliver emissions reduction by separate vertical and horizontal container movement associated with long distance port terminal container flow using straddle carriers.
Lyttelton Port Company Limited, $157,350: Lyttleton Port Company will replace a diesel sweeper truck, which operates at multiple Port locations, with a battery electric vehicle (BEV) equivalent. The project will demonstrate how the electric sweeper can operate efficiently for a full work shift and how its operation impacts battery performance and operational productivity.
Round 14 approved projects
Round 14 of the LETF launched on 29 July 2024 for Vehicles, Technology, Off-road and Marine. The round closed on 9 September 2024. EECA has approved 12 projects that would allocate co-funding of $2,198,620.
Etrucks Limited, $20,000: Etrucks will import and demonstrate an E1400 Windrose long-range electric truck. The E1400 has a loaded range (49t) of 670km. The truck will come equipped with MCS and CCS2 charging.
Port Napier Limited, $302,000: Port of Napier will demonstrate autonomous battery-electric container terminal tractors (ABECTTs) and a battery-swap charger in their port operations.
ContainerCo (NZL) Limited, $232,000: ContainerCo will replace a single empty container handler with a fully electric version to demonstrate that the current diesel empty handlers could be entirely replaced with electric handlers.
Seeka Limited, $27,000: Seeka will demonstrate two custom-designed electric ATVs for use under kiwifruit canopies, reducing emissions, improving safety, and cutting operational costs while aligning with sustainability goals through reduced fuel and maintenance expenses.
Lyttelton Port Company Limited, $252,000: Lyttelton Port Company will demonstrate replacing a diesel empty container handler with a battery electric equivalent.
Green Pacific Shipping Limited, $500,000: Green Pacific Shipping will demonstrate a 30-passenger electric foiling ferry built by Candela to operate between Auckland, Coromandel and Waiheke. Being transportable, including its charging equipment, it will be available around New Zealand for demonstration and trial by other potential users.
Change Fuel Technologies Limited, $97,000: Change Fuel Technologies will build and demonstrate a hydrogen refuelling vehicle which can supply hydrogen to off-road vehicles.
Rotorua Forest Haulage Limited, $20,000: Rotorua Forest Haulage will work with Scania NZ to demonstrate a fully electric truck that can operate on New Zealand roads at HPMV weights of 54T.
Action Manufacturing, $132,000: Action Manufacturing will demonstrate a 100% electric refrigerated semi-trailer. The technology represents a step forward for trailer refrigeration.
D&H Equipment Limited, $242,000: D&H Equipment alongside Ballance Agri-Nutrients will demonstrate a 20-tonne electric wheel loader in their fertiliser plant. This will test the suitability of electric off-road equipment in a highly corrosive fertiliser environment.
Kwetta Limited, $239,600: This project aims to demonstrate how Kwetta's 'grid first' innovation can unlock and optimise existing network infrastructure for EV fast charging, by piloting Kwetta's dynamic flexibility grid service.
United Civil Limited, $135,020: United Civil Construction will demonstrate their first fully electric 4-tonne excavator in Northland and Napier. This size excavator is widely used across many sectors and the project will demonstrate its use case across two regions.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Otago Daily Times
3 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
NZ 'back on course', govt says
By Russell Palmer of RNZ The government has launched a defence of its record on tackling the cost of living. Finance Minister Nicola Willis joined Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Beehive Theatrette for the weekly post-Cabinet briefing. She spent much of the previous week facing questions about her meeting with Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell. Luxon said this week marked a full year since the tax bracket changes National campaigned on had come into effect. "It's only through a strong economy that wages rise faster than inflation, that Kiwis can get ahead of their daily costs and our businesses can take risks that can mean that they can invest, grow, and create more jobs," he said. He directly targeted National's main rival in opposition. "Other parties in Parliament believe that raising taxes, growing the public sector, and giving more handouts to those who refuse to work is the answer. Taxing more, spending more, and borrowing more as Labour and others advocate for didn't work in the past and it won't work in the future." The government's decision to increase fees paid to board members on Crown entities - in some cases up to 80 percent - may undercut the messaging that National is prioritising low and middle-income New Zealanders' interests. But Luxon today pointed to the building products changes announced over the weekend, and the proposed ban on payment surcharges as recent examples. He then pointed to other items in the government's agenda, including: the current pipeline of infrastructure projects, Roads of National Significance, completing the City Rail Link, signing trade deals with the United Arab Emirates and Gulf Cooperation Council, starting negotiations with India, the digital nomads visa, and the Investment Boost policy. Willis soon picked up the baton, rattling off her own list of changes the government had made which she said had helped lower costs, including: the Family Boost policy, ending the Reserve Bank's secondary mandate to account for unemployment, curbing government spending, changing residential tenancy laws, tax deductability changes for landlords, delaying the previous government's petrol excise increases, scrapping the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax, increasing rates rebates for seniors, increasing Working for Families support, and extending maximum subscription lengths. She said National had campaigned on tackling the cost of living crisis, and pointed to rising GDP per capita and wages rising faster than inflation as a result of the government's interventions. "Taking the pressure off inflation - that is the general level of price increases across the economy - helps with the cost side of the cost-of-living equation. Lower inflation means less pressure on prices... it's pleasing to say that wages are now growing faster than inflation and forecasts show this trend continuing over the next few years." She said the government's tax changes meant "households have benefited by an average of $60 a fortnight". The change to interest deductibility for landlords had helped to take the heat out of the rental market, she said, noting "the 2.6 increase for the year to June was the lowest since 2011". She said the government was also making big structural changes, saying "the last government conclusively proved that band aids are not enough" and pointing to a series of policies yet to come to fruition: the Going for Housing Growth policy, Fast-tracking renewable energy consenting, work to address supermarket competition, and to curb council rates increases. "Economies are like oil tankers, you can't turn them around on a dime. But New Zealand is back on course," Willis said. The lists of government achievements kept coming, with Willis also pointing to: education reform, the investment boost (again), promoting global trade and investment, changes to the research and development sector, and "delivering infrastructure projects faster and better". Meanwhile, a Cabinet Office Circular reveals the government signed off on increases to fees available to board members of Crown entities. This includes increases of 30 percent for Group 2 and 4 boards and Audit and Risk committees, and an increase of 80 percent for Group 3 bodies. Luxon said the public sector director fees "have got completely out of whack compared to private sector fees". "Obviously we will never pay as much as someone in the private sector but when you are spending $32 billion on healthcare for example, it's important that we are actually able to attract really good governors for the Health NZ board, for example," he said. The changes took effect at the start of July.

RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Mediawatch: Media milking butter battle
Big money for butter - as seen on TV on 1News on Tuesday, reporting the bitter butter battle turning political. Photo: screenshot / TVNZ 1News "How much is a block of butter?" a reporter from Stuff asked as things wrapped up the prime minister's post-Cabinet media conference on Monday. The tension was palpable. This was a high-stakes moment. "About $8.40 in New Zealand at the moment," Christopher Luxon responded. Close enough, thankfully for Luxon. Woolworths' in-house salted butter is $8.50, and you can get 500g of Rolling Meadow at PaknSave for $8.29. The consequences for getting it wrong would undoubtedly have been dire. In case you've been living under a rock inside a cave on the planet Venus during a solar storm - while wearing a blindfold and noise-cancelling headphones - our entire nation and nearly all of its media organisations have been fixated on the price of 500g of pure concentrated uncut dairy. The price has risen nearly 50 percent in a year and that's caused quite a few conniptions back home on Earth. Stuff actually ran a story on Luxon getting the price of butter right. Meanwhile journalists accosted Fonterra boss Miles Hurrell out in the open with questions about the cost of his company's yellow gold. First he had to fend off TVNZ political editor Maiki Sherman , not once but twice, ahead of a heavily-promoted meeting with finance minister Nicola Willis at Parliament. Hurrell got away, only to encounter RNZ's political reporter Giles Dexter afterwards - and by then he was pretty fed up. "I'll talk to media in the morning," he replied tersely to Dexter's enquiries. (Two more days passed before he actually did). But the media's intense interest in that meeting was understandable. It had been billed as a kind of 'please explain' and the finance minister told RNZ's Checkpoint she would grill Hurrell on the price of butter. "Sometimes we're seeing cheaper prices in British or Australian supermarkets and I'm interested to understand how much of that is about the lack of supermarket competition here - and how much is about the prices that Fonterra is passing through," she said. But that tough talk got the goat of Newstalk ZB morning host Mike Hosking during his weekly interview with the prime minister on Monday. "No she's not," he responded, after Luxon said Willis was doing a good job on food prices. "She's off to Fonterra this week to meet who? Miles. And what's she going to talk to Miles about? She's going to talk about the price of butter. I can tell you why the price of butter is the price of butter, and I don't know why we have a finance minister who doesn't know. We get the international price for butter." "Nicola has this penchant for saying stuff that might lead you to believe she could produce an uzi out of a handbag and blitz the room," he said later in a two-minute-long Mike's Minute . The following morning Willis was keen to tell RNZ's First Up her meeting with Hurrell was just a regularly scheduled catch-up. But the Fonterra boss was pursued around Parliament and the streets of Wellington nevertheless. It didn't deter our media from delivering blanket coverage of the meeting and post-butter discussion analysis - and the price of butter more generally in news bulletins, commentary and explainers . The Herald 's Liam Dann implored the media to have a little bit of perspective in his weekly column in the Herald on Sunday last weekend. He said high butter prices are actually only costing many families about $4 a week and other price rises hit harder. He told Mediawatch we might be overreacting to the incredible cost of a spreadable product. "If you're going to get worked up about a food product in New Zealand, it's going to be dairy. There's a sort of cultural connection to dairy and this feeling that we produce so much of the stuff that it's not fair that it costs so much." Dann said high dairy prices were a net positive for the country's economy, with the current spike expected to bring in an additional $10 billion in export revenue over this year and next. Politicians - including former Fonterra employee Nicola Willis - were well aware of that. But he acknowledged those gains were less tangible and visceral than the sight of a $10 block of butter in the supermarket aisle. The high price of butter was also emblematic of the wider cost of living crisis, he said. "I'm certainly not downplaying the cost of living crisis... but if you actually do the maths and crunch how much discretionary income's coming or going based on your butter consumption, we're talking cents." "Perhaps it is just that we need something to focus on, to channel that anger around what's happening to the overall supermarket sector." Dann has pleaded with politicians to " raise the quality of debate " and focus on structural economic issues rather than the price of butter. But surely that goes for the media as well? Liam Dann didn't want to blame the media, but said the wider issue of New Zealand's low wage and under-productive economy was far more important and worthy of analysis than individual commodity prices. "How do we organise the system so we've actually got a thriving domestic economy, people are paid more and can afford to eat these products that we've grown up culturally seeing as our own?" Good question. For now though, the media is firmly focused on butter. The meeting between Hurrell and Willis, in particular, would have been a friendly one rather than the adversarial encounter some stories suggested. But that reporting was driven by the intoxicating allure of thousands of clicks. "We see that the butter story is what everybody's clicking on... and it becomes a topic that gets momentum. We start asking economists about the butter, and then that gets into people's heads," he said. "We get a sort of a media spiral going where it just becomes a bit of a phenomenon in its own right." That may not be as edifying as a discussion of the economic conditions behind our lagging wages, but it's certainly a lot more clickable. In the end, just like Fonterra, the media is a business too - and it also follows the money. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Bitter butter battle tops bulletins, Saudi sports cash
sport media 22 minutes ago A bitter battle over the price of butter led news bulletins this week, prompting a 'please explain' from the finance minister to Fonterra. But did the media miss the main point? Also: pundits say Sky TV taking over Three strengthens its on-screen sport play, but the cash Saudi Arabia's suddenly splashing could end up changing the picture.