Photo: STR
A new loan scheme to help fund public electric vehicle chargers is aiming to get more in the ground across the country.
Companies building EV chargers can currently apply for direct government grants to help pay for them, through a contestable fund, Transport Minister Chris Bishop said.
But the government is now putting $68.5 million in grant money towards interest-free loans instead.
"Concessionary loans will bring forward private investment in public EV charging infrastructure by lowering the cost of capital," Bishop said.
"They will also provide better value for money by maximising private sector investment while keeping the taxpayers' contribution to a minimum."
The loans will cover up to half of project costs and will be awarded through contestable investment rounds.
It matched the "highly successful" model for rolling out ultra-fast broadband, Bishop said.
"Under the status quo, the private sector are reluctant to invest in charging infrastructure until there's sufficient demand, but demand for charging won't grow until the purchase of EVs stops being hampered by a lack of public charging.
"This chicken-and-egg situation is hampering the roll-out and justifies government action."
Grants made sense when the public charging market was being established, but EVs now made up more than 2 percent of the light vehicle fleet and that was projected to grow to 11 percent by 2030, he said.
The loan scheme was a "more sophisticated, commercial procurement model," Bishop said.
At the end of last year, there were 1378 public charging points - about one for every 84 EVs (fully electric and plug-in hybrid), he said.
The government is targeting 10,000 by 2030, so there would be one charging point for 40 EVs.
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts said boosting public charging infrastructure ahead of demand would give more people the confidence to choose an EV.
"There are real benefits to owning an EV. Not only does it support our economic and climate goals, but it also delivers long-term benefits to users by helping keep running costs low."
The loan initiative will be administered by National Infrastructure Funding and Financing, the successor organisation to Crown Infrastructure Partners which delivered ultra-fast broadband.
The chief executive of the country's largest public charging company, ChargeNet, Danusia Wypych said the ability for companies to submit bids for portfolios of chargers would support investment in different locations.
Expanding public charging infrastructure would also make it more practical for companies to convert their fleet to electric vehicles, she said.
"A significant barrier to the uptake in EV ownership is now the state of the country's public charging infrastructure.
"New Zealand has the lowest ratio of public EV chargers per EV in the OECD and we must turn that around if we are to realise the massive economic benefits of electrification."
The chair of EV lobby group Drive Electric, Kirsten Corson said it was positive the government acknowleged the country needed more public chargers - but she doubted the loan scheme would make a significant difference.
The biggest barrier for companies building charging infrastructure is dealing with dozens of lines companies, she said.
"With 29 different parties we've got a lack of consistent pricing, we've got a lack of consistent processes, and we've got a lack of visibility of network capacity."
That had to change for the network to expand quickly, she said.
"Otherwise ... this is going to become National's KiwiBuild, where we don't come anywhere close to 10,000 chargers by 2030."
Bishop acknowledged it was an "ambitious" target, but said the government was looking at a range of changes to boost numbers.
"The ability for the chargers to connect into the existing distribution network needs to be easier, and so the Minister of Energy has a range of work underway around that, but that is exactly a problem, there's no doubt about that," he said.
The government was also looking to scrap the need for resource consent for public chargers, Bishop said.
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