B Manawatu Car Club Inc Magazine January 2021 Page 1 of 47 EDITORSPEAK… email:
[email protected] Happy New Year. Let us hope that 2021 is a bit more positive than 2020 has been. The Club has plenty to look forward to, as alluded to by Richie last month, so watch out for some awesome new stuff as we continue to innovate and keep the current momentum going. We certainly don’t intend to fall into the trap of not keeping up with the times. A couple of observations for you to ponder over, over your New Year break. I was confused to begin with, so, let me get this straight in my mind. The Police are culling the old Holden Commodores from their current fleet of 3,250 odd vehicles in favor of 2,000 nice shiny new Skoda’s under a contract covering the next 5 years. The whole evaluation and contract negotiation process has taken a considerable time and has just been put in place. The Government then announces that all Public Sector agencies must be carbon neutral by 2025. So, I see a huge problem here, and surely I can’t be the only one? The first issue - the Police will need to find an EV or hybrid that meets their operational needs, which I would have thought will currently be mission impossible for a response vehicle, and this is the role the Skodas are taking. Because, at present, an EV or hybrid is only really best suited to “around town” and non- essential work they will only be able to, at best, carbon neutralize part of the fleet.