Meridian Energy will conduct a small-scale trial of electric cars early next year.
Chief executive Keith Turner said advances in motor, battery and control technology meant that all-electric cars would be appearing in the market in the not too distant future.
The state-owned electricity company planned to investigatehow electric cars performed in New Zealand conditions, find out what people thought about them and encourage the car industry to look more closely at opportunities in New Zealand. The company did not plan to sell the cars.
Electric cars could significantly reduce the transport sector's impact on the environment, he said.
"The prize in making the move to electric vehicles comes when you recharge them with renewable electricity.
"Meridian will be able to demonstrate renewable, zero-emission, certified carbon neutral mobility," Dr Turner said.
"There is no point in somebody feeling good about driving round town in an electric vehicle if the electricity they're using has come from a coal-burning plant. All they've done is shifted the emissions from their tail pipe to a smoke-stack over somebody else's town."
Dr Turner said New Zealand was an ideal environment to test new innovations, because of the public's pioneering attitude to new technologies and the benefit of the relatively small test market.
