The Machine Count
What's the machine count?
Rewiring Aotearoa’s previous work has identified a massive electrification opportunity for New Zealand, where households, farms and businesses could save thousands per year and the country could save over $10 billion per year if we upgrade our fossil fuel machines to electric equivalents.
We set out to understand these fossil fuel machines: how many there are, how they’re used, and how hard they might be to electrify.
The Machine Count is New Zealand's first complete inventory of all our fossil fuel machines - from cars to tractors to industrial equipment. It’s a free, public dataset showing how many machines burn fossil fuels across the country, what they're used for, and what steps need to be taken to upgrade them to zero-emissions alternatives.
This work is supported
and co-funded by Ara Ake.
www.araake.co.nz
Report Highlights
84% of machines are ready to electrify
10% need some effort
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Only 6% need further Research
Data spotlight
When we categorise the 10.2 million fossil fuel machines around the country by their “electrifiability”, we find that the majority are both technically feasible to electrify, and readily available in New Zealand. The chart shows that vast majority of machines (84%) can be decarbonised today.
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The below chart shows all the energy emissions used across the New Zealand economy. It includes:
Top priority machines per electrifiability category: Potential emissions reduction from avoided fossil fuel use due to electrifying each of the top machine types for each electrifiability category. For example, electrifying all the cars in the country (which are green, as they are part of the “Ready to electrify” category) would reduce emissions by 6.4 Mt per year. Electrifying the top 8 machine types out of 31 in the “Ready” category would reduce emissions by 7.5 Mt per year. Electrifying all of the top 23 machine types out of 95 across all three categories would reduce energy emissions by 16.4 Mt, 55% of New Zealand’s estimated energy emissions in 2024.
Industry emissions due to fossil energy use in industrial sectors. This is mostly fuel use to generate process heat that is used in manufacturing.
Other fossil fuel machines are emissions from all other machines which are not in industrial use, and did not make the top priority lists of each electrifiability category when ranked by emissions impact.
Existing generators are the energy emissions from burning fossil fuels to generate electricity, based on 2024 energy data.
Other energy transformation includes coal use by NZ Steel; and losses and own use associated with coal and oil provision based on 2024 energy data. Emissions from natural gas transmission and distribution losses, and natural gas production losses and own use, are spread across the emissions reduction associated with the gas use included in the above four categories.
When the emissions savings from each machine type are shown as a step chart, it illustrates how the largest reductions come from a few target machines – namely, cars and commercial vehicles like trucks, utes, and vans. However, the large cumulative impact of the smaller annual savings from the other machine types must not be overlooked – all of the machines in this priority list represent significant, permanent year-on-year emission reduction opportunities that we can not afford to waste.
Nationwide checklist
About the Database
Sector insights
Residential
The residential sector can be fully electrified now at lower cost and going electric should be the easy default.
Households can slash their power bills, cut emissions, and improve home comfort by switching to electric vehicles, heat pumps, and induction cooktops. For many families, this means saving thousands each year while also doing their bit for the climate.
Better access to finance is required to deal with upfront costs, information should be readily available for all demographics. Once installed, these machines lock in savings for years to come and renters and low-income homes can also benefit.
Agricultural
It's a mixed bag of easy wins and technology challenges on farms.
Farmers can reduce operating costs and emissions by swapping diesel for electric, especially when paired with solar.
The 'lowest-hanging fruits' include mowers, tractors, ATVs/UTVs, trucks, forklifts, and handheld tools like chainsaws and line trimmers and these quieter, cleaner, lower-maintenance machines make life easier. Utes are another major opportunity - but there are limited options currently available.
More advances are needed for machines like high-horsepower tractors, but there’s already plenty that can be electrified today with strong returns.
Businesses & Institutions
The electrification challenges and opportunities are diverse in this sector, but businesses can learn from real-world electrification journeys and must prepare for technology changes.
Many businesses and organisations have similar machines and energy economics as the residential sector, so the savings stack up when they electrify their heating, kitchens, and light vehicles. Real-world case studies show it’s do-able, even for those leasing buildings.
Looking at lifetime costs is crucial during procurement and starting small and building up works well. Going electric now means staying ahead of rising energy costs and customer expectations.
Industrial
Industrial sites face tougher challenges and decarbonisation requires focus at an individual site level, especially for high-temperature processes.
Switching from coal and gas to electricity brings massive emission cuts and long-term security.
Solutions exist for process heat below 100°C (heat pumps) and between 100-300°C (electrode boilers), but technologies for higher temperatures are still developing.
Large energy users like steel, methanol, fertiliser and cement producers need unique decarbonisation pathways requiring both innovation and supportive policies.
How to make it happen
Finance Innovation
Underwrite low-interest electrification loans with the Crown balance sheet and relax capital-floor rules for banks.
Community dual-energy hardship fund for low-income households.
Introduce tax breaks and minimum electrification standards for rentals, plus energy ratings on tenancy adverts.
Provide renters with access to affordable EV finance.
Process Innovation
Launch nationwide behaviour change and info campaigns so households see the numbers for themselves.
Mandate clear energy and emissions labels on every vehicle and major appliance.
Fast-track a National EV-charging build-out and Level the RUC playing field so high-mileage drivers flip first.
Bulk-buy clean energy-ready (CER) gear through government procurement to drop heat pump water-heater prices.
Set up a national team of Electrification Advisors and provide free energy audits at point of purchase.
Support energy-trading platforms so landlords can share solar savings with tenants.
Why are we counting the machines?
Our global emissions problem is primarily an energy problem.
Around 73% of global emissions come from energy.
Solving that energy problem in practice is a machine problem.
Underneath all of our energy emissions categories sit fossil fuel machines, from coal power plants to petrol vehicles and gas water heaters. We need to swap those fossil fuel machines for zero emission electrified alternatives.
Conventional thinking has under-appreciated the role of the many "demand-side" machines.
There are millions more machines that sit on the demand side of the energy system, like our cars, trucks, tractors, space heaters and more.
New Zealand's emissions are unique, but the solution to rapid emissions reduction is the same.
Climate change is a cumulative emissions problem, meaning the more we can reduce now the more impact we can have. We don't have electric planes yet, or zero emissions shipping, or zero emission cows... Yet we do have many of the electric machines in homes, businesses, and on farm that can replace fossil fuel machines while delivering more energy productivity and bill savings.
The good news is electric machines are significantly more efficient, and can save on energy bills.
As we've shown in Electric Homes, Investing in Tomorrow, and Electric Farms, electrification can save money and emissions at the same time. The Machine Count project was all about showing how many machines we need to electrify and how viable they are in different areas.
The even better news is that 84% of them are ready to electrify right now.
The Machine Count project showed we have 10 million fossil fuel machines in New Zealand and almost all of them can be electrified right now, with rapid advances making it increasingly viable in other sectors.
Support us
Your donations help our team keep the momentum of rapidly electrifying Aotearoa New Zealand within our key focus areas of community, government and industry.
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