Iran oil crisis: why NZ’s car dependence is now a strategic liability

New Zealand generates more than 85% of its electricity from renewable sources – rising to a record 96.4% in the last quarter of 2025. It has one of the cleanest and most oil-independent electricity systems in the world.

Yet transport, which consumes nearly 40% of all energy in the country, remains almost entirely chained to imported oil. Electricity provides just 0.5% of domestic transport energy. It didn’t have to be that way.

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