EV advocate pitches salary-sacrifice lease plan to put New Zealand nurses in electric cars for around NZ$170 a week

HouGarden New Zealand, 2 November — Mike Casey, a prominent New Zealand electric vehicle advocate and industry figure, outlined the proposal in an appearance on The Prosperity Project, a New Zealand podcast focused on personal finance and economic issues, hosted by broadcaster and financial adviser Nadine Higgins.

Casey argued that while political parties have been competing to offer incentives for solar panels, there has been very little public discussion about encouraging New Zealanders to switch to electric vehicles. "We spend so much money on energy that we source from the other side of the world to run our cars — we could be running that off New Zealand-made energy," he said.

He contended that politicians have been reluctant to engage with the issue. "Our politicians are too scared to talk about something that really does need to happen," he said.

Casey said he believes previous EV policy in New Zealand poisoned the debate. He pointed to the former clean car fee — commonly known as the ute tax, which has since been abolished — as an example of poorly targeted policy. "You had a ute tax which really penalised tradies who had no electric van opportunity, farmers who had no electric utes, to essentially subsidise those that could probably afford electric vehicles," he said.

Instead, Casey said he believes Australia offers a more equitable model. Under the Australian scheme, workers lease electric vehicles through their employers using pre-tax salary — a structure known as a novated lease, in which the employer deducts lease payments from an employee's gross income before tax is calculated. This reduces the employee's taxable income and lowers the effective cost of the vehicle.

Casey wants a similar employer-facilitated salary-sacrifice scheme introduced in New Zealand. He estimates that under such an arrangement, a nurse or teacher could obtain a brand-new electric vehicle — with maintenance, insurance and charging costs all included — for an estimated net outlay of around NZ$170 a week after the pre-tax income deduction is applied. That figure is Casey's own estimate of the all-in weekly cost under the scheme, not a market retail price.

"It is a significant savings and a significant cost of living reduction, or — as we like to say — a pay rise that you can drive," he said.

Casey acknowledged that implementing such a scheme in New Zealand would require tax changes, and that the Government would forgo some tax revenue as a result. "It is a subsidy, but I think it's a far fairer subsidy than, say, the clean car rebate," he said. He also argued the scheme would help feed the second-hand EV market, which he described as crucial to widespread uptake.

He said that in Australia, around half of all EV sales now flow through such salary-sacrifice lease arrangements.

Casey said he has submitted the proposal directly to both major party leaders — Labour leader Chris Hipkins and National leader Chris Luxon. "Both the Chrises have this policy sitting in their inbox at the moment," he said, adding that he had not received a response from either. The proposal has not been taken up by any party and has not entered the legislative process.