New Zealand's Meridian Energy will test electric cars on a "small scale" in 2008

If you click over to the Meridian Energy site these days, you'll see a little ad to win an "energy efficient hybrid car." But this little promotion is not the only way that the New Zealand utility is trying to green up the place. Meridian is New Zealand's only carbon neutral electricity and next year will begin testing (on a small scale) some electric cars. The story we found on Lexis Nexis and Meridian's press release give zero information on the type and number of these EVs, so we'll just have to speculate.
What we do know is that Meridian wants to:

1. "To test how electric cars perform in New Zealand conditions
2. To find out what New Zealanders think about electric cars
3. To encourage the auto industry to look more closely at opportunities in New Zealand."

Sounds good. I can imagine that numbers one and two will yield Meridian similar results as other testers in other countries. Number three, though, is where it'd be nice to see New Zealand lead the way.

Related:

• First flight using biofuel to take off soon from Boeing and Air New Zealand
• It's tough to be green in paranoid times - homemade hydrogen car causes bomb scare in New Zealand

[Source: The Dominion Post (Wellington, New Zealand)]