Govt Looking To Cut Heavy Vehicle Regulations Amid The Fuel Problem

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Now the latest government data shows our fuel stocks have continued to fall but movements remain within expectations. Uh they are also working on changes that could be implemented quickly if the government decided to move up to phase two on the national fuel plan. And that would include allowing more weight on some trucks to facilitate fewer trips, allowing normal licenses for heavy electric utes, relaxing time and access restrictions for overdimension vehicles, and removing some restrictions on the routes that said overdimension vehicles could travel. Transporting New Zealand says the government needs to loosen these restrictions uh without delay. The chief executive is Dom Kalassie and it's good to talk to him again Dom. Good to see you.

[00:00:50]>> Good afternoon, Leah.

[00:00:51]>> Uh Dom, can we first look at heavier trucks carrying more uh in in one trip?

[00:00:58]How much heavier would we be talking?

[00:01:01]And at the moment, do we have trucks going around the country that are half empty?

[00:01:07]>> Uh so firstly, in terms of how much, right? Yeah. Uh our initial suggestion was uh 2 ton right and that generally speaking for those trucks that are operating at their maximum uh those payloads are going to be in the order of 30 to 35 ton right so it's a bit less than um 10%. Uh in terms of are there trucks with capacity? Yes, absolutely.

[00:01:36]There are um milk tankers, fuel tankers, there are aggregate trucks. Um so there are lots of trucks that could take advantage of that.

[00:01:45]>> Okay. So that two ton you're talking about is in general you'd see two ton go on top of what they're carting at the moment.

[00:01:54]>> That's right. Yes.

[00:01:55]>> Okay. Um, so just to be clear, a heavier truck burns more fuel, but if it replaces say two lighter trips, that's where the saving comes in, I gather. And you've you've even talked about cutting around how many millions of kilometers of heavy travel. What figures have you what you've crunched the numbers?

[00:02:16]>> The numbers we have crunched show um and this is just at the top end of town.

[00:02:20]>> Uh we think you could save about six million lers of fuel. Oh, >> and you could avoid about 10 million kilometers of heavy truck travel. Right.

[00:02:33]>> And Leah, look, in terms of the um the fuel savings, >> Yeah.

[00:02:37]>> Uh sometimes I explain it to people uh for their cars, I say, you know, if you've got two people and two cars and the cars typical fuel consumption is 8 L per 100 km >> Mhm. If they do a trip of 100 km, that's 16 L of fuel used.

[00:02:57]>> Yeah.

[00:02:58]>> Now, if both those people jump in one car, that car will probably it will burn additional fuel, but it'll only be about maybe 8.1 L per 100.

[00:03:09]>> Gotcha.

[00:03:09]>> So, it'll use a little bit extra, but it's a massive saving on having two cars go. So, the that's how that sort of principle >> how you Yep. how you've explained it in layman's terms to people like me who are not in the trucking industry.

[00:03:26]I get it. Um but Dom, I'm sure you've had this question thrown at you. What about the roads? More weight means more wear and tear. Um who pays for potential damage?

[00:03:36]So look, New Zealand is pretty lucky in terms of we have probably one of the best systems in the world in our road user charges which is a mass distance license system. So depending on how heavy you are, depending how far you go, that's the tax you pay. Now look, to be fair, our initial um proposal was just put two tons on trucks and in fact they wouldn't pay extra r and that just helps with the whole economic relief package.

[00:04:06]Right.

[00:04:07]>> Yeah.

[00:04:08]>> If they're paying more road uses for higher weight, then whatever additional roadware there is gets paid for.

[00:04:17]>> Okay, I see what you're saying. And um all right. So that's can we move on to the other proposal of letting standard license holders drive electric utes? Now again I I had to look into this because am I am I right in saying there's not actually that many electric utes in the on our roads yet and they're not big trucks so they just tip over the weight because of their batteries. Is that right? Is this going to make a difference?

[00:04:44]>> Look, you're absolutely right, Leah.

[00:04:46]Look, uh we support we absolutely support those other proposals, right?

[00:04:51]But in the scheme of benefit to the country and the economy, uh they're at the margins.

[00:04:58]>> Yeah.

[00:04:59]>> Right. As I say, we absolutely support them, but really in terms of these are tough economic times. How can we improve productivity? And the best ways to improve productivity to allow those trucks to carry a little more. What what about the proposal though of operating earlier in the morning or later at night? Do you think John this might raise the eyebrows of those say in residential areas?

[00:05:25]Oh, look for those over dimension loads and again they're a tiny tiny percentage. It'll be a fraction a fraction of%. Look, I doubt very much anyone's going to notice.