Former Tauranga City Councillor John Robson's legacy is expected to arrive and be officially handed over to the city in about two weeks' time.

The Hyundai Ioniq that's going to be handed to the city will be one of the first vehicles of its kind in New Zealand, and certainly the first in Tauranga.

But it wasn't planned that way.

When John set about fulfilling the election promise he made back in 2013 – to return the percentage of his council salary matching the vote share – he thought it would be a simple matter.

John wants to do something in the environmental area because he would like the council to be smarter, greener and fairer.

'Unfortunately the councillors are neither smart nor green nor fair. So in giving back I wanted to help balance that deficit of smartness greenness and fairness so a green car seemed a good place to start.

'What I proposed was to pick up a couple of electric cars, get it done and dusted. I was proposing a couple of second-hand Nissan Leafs which is the default electric vehicle. Max Mason actually drives one.”

But the council has a fleet policy. The policy says they prefer to buy new, and they work through a fleet management company, a leasing company.

Within the fleet policy there were not a lot of electric vehicles available, but Hyundai announced launching a new car and council staff asked John if he would be comfortable picking it up for the cost of a three-year lease.

'I said ‘absolutely, just tell me when it's due'. And it's due soon. The last information I had is the might be talking delivery this March.”

Farmer Auto Village Hyundai sales manager Rui Santos says the council Ioniq is on its way.

'I think it will get her in the next week or two but I don't have a definite date yet. And when it does get here, James Williams from Hyundai New Zealand is actually going to come down here and deliver it to the council.”

It will be one of the first they might have sold and definitely the first in the Bay of Plenty, adds Rui.

John says there is more to come from his election promise legacy, and after he picks up the bill for the electric car there is more money he's promised to pay.

He's currently working on options, with ‘greener' done, he's working on ‘smarter'.

The Hyundai Ioniq is the first car in the world to offer separate Hybrid, full Electric and Plug-in Hybrid powertrain options on one body type.

Hyundai says it represents the next step in eco-friendly vehicles.

The full Electric Ioniqis will first arrive in New Zealand in early 2017, and will be later followed by the Hybrid, then the Plug-in Hybrid.

Tauranga City Council will be receiving the full electric Ioniq.

Key features include:

• 88KW Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor with a Lithium-ion Polymer Battery Capacity 28 KWh (Approx. up to 225km* range)
• Three Drive Modes – Normal, ECO and Sport
• Three Year / 100,000km warranty (whichever comes first) and 10 Year / unlimited km High Voltage Battery Pack warranty
• Approx. 4 – 5hrs** charging time with Wall Charger or Approx. 16 - 18hrs*** charging time at home
• Latest technology including an 8” Touchscreen with Apple CarPlay™ and Android Auto™ and Wireless smartphone charger^
• Modern safety features including: Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS), Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS),
• Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), Smart Cruise Control (SCC) and Blind Spot Detection^^ (BSD)
• Five star Euro NCAP safety rating
• Hyundai is claiming a 200km range from the EV, with the lithium-ion battery pack taking around four-and-a-half hours for a full charge and just 25 minutes for an 85 percent fast charge.