Air New Zealand electrifies ground fleet
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![Christopher Luxon with New Zealand's Minister of Transport, Simon Bridges](https://traveldailymedia.com/assets/2016/03/Christopher-Luxon-and-Simon-Bridges-300x212.jpg)
Air New Zealand is making its operations more eco-friendly with the transition to a fully-electric ground fleet in New Zealand.
The airline is switching more than 75 airport vehicles to electric power, in a move that will save around 65,000 litres of fuel per year.
It has also confirmed orders for 36 electric BMW i3 vehicles for its sales force, and is planning to purchase 12 Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrids for longer range trips and 28 Renault Kangoo Maxi ZE electric vans for use at airports.
“Taking a leadership position in carbon management and reducing our emissions is a significant goal for us under our sustainability framework,” said Air New Zealand’s CEO, Christopher Luxon.
“We recognise the opportunity electric vehicles present both for New Zealand and our airline and we are making the most of the country’s renewable electricity supply by transitioning our ground fleet off fossil fuels where we’re able to.”
Air New Zealand will receive the first of its new electric vehicles later this month and aims to complete the fleet transition by the end of 2016.
In addition to the introduction of electric vehicles, the airline has begun installing charging points at its car parking sites to support the new vehicles. These will be in addition to the charge points already installed at a number of the airline’s customer parking facilities.
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