Climate Change Story – Driving change: Piloting commercial leasing electric vehicle solutions in Fiji

Renewable energy generation and electrification are accelerating globally as a key response to climate change. In the Pacific region, fossil fuel imports cost USD6 billion (AUD9 billion) annually, around 5-15 per cent of GDP for each economy. In Fiji alone, petroleum products make up close to 20 per cent of total imports. As the Fiji Government is committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, there is strong potential for introducing technologies like electric vehicles (EVs) to help reduce the burden of fossil fuel imports and decrease carbon emissions. 

However, EVs are a relatively new technology in Fiji and are considerably more expensive to purchase than fossil fuel vehicles; in addition, the second-hand EV market is still nascent. Besides their small and isolated markets, electric grids in the Pacific tend to be ill-suited for EV fast-charging infrastructure and would require upgrades if the demand for EVs increased. To date, there have been limited imports of EVs into the Pacific region and limited investment in EVs charging infrastructure.