Petrol station owner drives an EV, considering voting Green
Thursday, 1 October 2020
He makes his living from fossil fuels, but this Christchurch petrol station owner drives an electric vehicle.
He’s also installed an EV charger on his forecourt – at his own expense – and the usually blue voter is considering swinging Green this election.
Robert Jiang has owned the Redcliffs BP 2go since 2001. He has become increasingly concerned at the impact fossil fuels are having on the planet, so during a revamp of the site last year, Jiang installed an electric vehicle fast charger at the station.
He couldn’t secure outside funding to install the charger, so he paid the $150,000 cost from his own pocket.
**READ MORE:
* Do you want some oil with that?
* Government plans big push for clean energy by expanding hydro dams
* Climate Explained: Could the world stop using fossils fuels today?
**
“The charger itself is about $50,000, but it’s very expensive connecting to the substation to get enough power down here,” Jiang said.
Initially, the uptake was slow, but it was “getting popular”, with about five or six people using it every day.
An average electric vehicle takes about 20 minutes to charge to 80 per cent, at a cost of about $5.
“At the moment we hope the customer comes here, stops here, gets a coffee and comes to the shop. We don’t lose money, but we don’t make money.”
Recently Jiang and his wife went renewable in their own travels by buying a second-hand 2019 Nissan Leaf.
“It’s awesome. I made a trip to Dunedin, I stopped at Timaru and Oamaru, and it cost 10 bucks, 15 bucks – it’s really cheap.”
When asked if he saw a contradiction in owning a petrol station and supporting electric vehicles he said he was “giving customers options”.
Jiang usually voted for the National Party, but said he found its policies uninspiring this year.
He was uncertain which way his vote would go, but was considering picking the Green Party because of its environmental policies.
On Tuesday, the Green Party announced it wanted to ban the import of fossil fuel cars from about 2030.
Jiang planned to install more chargers as their popularity increased.
He envisioned the fossil fuel aspect of his business lasting only another 20 years.
“It’s going to happen anyway.”