Today the Christchurch City Council announced a car-sharing plan, using electric vehicles. Starting in November, there will be 70 electric cars for use by the Council, Environment Canterbury, the District Health Board, and several businesses. At first, the cars will be located in parking buildings at the airport, and near the City Council.
By March next year, there will be 100 electric cars and they will also be available for Christchurch residents. They will be located in many places like the university, the polytechnic and at some libraries. Borrowing will be a bit like the bicycle-sharing scheme which already operates in many cities like Christchurch.
Users will need an app which will use radio frequency ID cards to unlock the car. When they return the car, they will need to plug it in so that the battery can recharge. The cost for using a car will probably be between $12 and $15 an hour but people could hire cars for a few minutes or for a day or longer.
Yoogo is the company responsible for providing the cars, the charging stations and the details of making it all work. The cars will be Hyundai Ioniq and BMWi3.
Electric cars will reduce carbon emissions and improve the air quality of the city when compared with using petrol cars. As New Zealand has 80% renewable electricity generation, electric cars will save on the cost of importing petrol and thus be cheaper to run.
Vocabulary
• Environment Canterbury – the Canterbury Regional Council
• radio frequency – the frequency of the sound waves given out
• emission (n) – from the verb to emit: to give out (e.g. carbon, heat, noise)
• renewable (adj) – can use it again and again
• generation (n) – making electricity using water from rivers, steam, gas etc.
Some useful expressions:
• to plug in a car / a phone / a hair dryer
• to charge (or recharge) an electric car / a phone / a lap top computer
• to operate a scheme
• this car is cheaper to run (operate)
• an electric car will save on (the cost of) petrol