April 26, 2025 • 10 mins
The Government has set aside $68.5 million for an interest free EV charger loan scheme.
The private sector will be able to apply for a loan to increase the number of chargers in New Zealand.
It's committed to 10,000 public chargers by 2030, up from around 1,400 currently available.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from news Talks dB.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
The government's set aside sixty eight point five million dollars
for an interest free EV charger loan scheme. The private
sector will be able to apply for a loan to
up the number of charges in New Zealand. Basically they've
committed to ten thousand public charges by twenty thirty, which
was up from only fourteen hundred, so quite an ambitious target.
(00:32):
And Transport Minister Chris Bishop is with me now, good afternoon, Well,
sixty eight point five million. I don't want to sort
of sort of million or billion in things, but it
doesn't seem like much money. Is that going to do
the trick?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
At one? Get us to the ten thousand, there will
be the further investment required, and to be honest, it's
a little bit we're not exactly sure how much more
will be required because one of the things we're going
to do is go out to the market and test
exactly what the economics are commercially around the country over
the next couple of years. With us initial sixty eight
(01:05):
five million, A lot depends on exactly what you build
and where you build it, so there's different types of
EV charges. Some are FA, some are flow. The economics
of some places are better than others, and so we're
committed to, you know, getting as close as we can
and get to the ten thousand by twenty thirty. It
will undoubtedly be further investment required, and you know it
will be future budget decisions around that in the years ahead.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I saw ten thousand. I think when your press release
was described as a stretch target, does that mean you've
just rounded it up to a nice number to sound good.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
No, no, no, The ten thousand is what we campaigned on,
and there is some rationale to it. So basically, we
have some of the lowest numbers of EV charges per
EV and the OECD, and so at the moment we
have about one charger for every eighty four evs. The
OECD average is about one for one to forty, So
(01:57):
ten by twenty thirty would give us around that number,
about one to forty based on the expected uptake of
evs by twenty thirty. So look, it's you know that
there's not a particularly hard science to it, but you know,
if you if you go for a good target of
one to forty, which is about the OECD average, that
would give us about ten by twenty thirty. So that's
why we picked that number and we stick it to that,
(02:18):
and we're trying to go for that.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
DC versus AC ones fast and one's a bit slower,
isn't it. Don't we want fast everywhere?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Yeah, So New Zealand's interesting. We because of the grant
scheme that's been running under successive governments basically since about
twenty fifteen to sixteen, actually goes all the way back
to the last national government. We've we've basically as a
government funded a lot of dcs around the country and
so we have some of the highest number of DC charges,
which is the fast ones, relative to AC charges, which
(02:47):
are the slow ones in the world. And we actually
probably frankly needs more AC charges which are the slower ones,
but you know, have their role on the place as
well on the public network as well. And so that's
again one of the things that we'll be looking at
over the next couple of years as we move into
this new new procurement model through Thetional Infrastructure Something and
financing company is getting the mix right between d C
(03:09):
and AC around the country. And as I say that,
the sites, you know that it will depend on the sites.
So some parts of the country really well served by
d c's and other parts of the country are not,
so there's a lot of work to do.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
It's a bit like hotels or some public accommodation. People
stay the night a C is fine, whereas if you're
calling in for a pit stop somewhere, you really want
a d C.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, that's right. Although you know you find at supermarkets
there is a lot of d C fast charges around
the place, and that's good, but you know, there are
also the capacity potentially for for other parts of the
for other sites. You know, in tourist towns where you
know you could have a port you know, a big
portal of AC charges where people you know stop for
lunch for an hour or two, do some shopping for
(03:51):
ninety minutes two hours. You know, you can chuck the
AC on there. It actually does make quite a big
different And at the moment all you find is the
d CS, and often you find that people you know,
you park up there and you actually have to wait
for an hour or so to you know, because people
are using the d C charges. So the point is
that a mixture is required around the country and we'll
be aiming for that.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
So who's going to use the scheme.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
So there's existing private providers out there. I mean you
think of charge Net for example, there've been you know,
they've got sites all around the country. Meridian Energy obviously
has some charges. There's z Energy has some of their
petrol stations and that they're doing quite a role out
at the moment. So there's a range of private providers
out there now, and so we're not picking any one
particular provider. It will be a competitive procurement process and
(04:35):
we'll be engaging with the private providers. And I see
one of them already put out of press release responding
welcoming the scheme, so mentioned to see how it goes.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Is the goal really just to encourage people to purchase evs.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
The goal is to make sure that we have a
transport infrastructure system that supports the role out of evs.
And one of the things that does hold people back
from buying them is concerns about where they'll charge range anxiety.
You know a lot of roads in this country with
a long, skinny country, people do worry about running out
of juice. Fine in the cities, you know, people doing
(05:10):
ten kilometers, you know, back and forward to work or
school or whatever. They just charge at home, but for
people doing journeys, they do worry about running out of
juice on those journeys. And so, as I say, we
have some of the lowest numbers of EV charges around
the country and the oecd so this is about ameliorating
people's concerns about range anxiety and making sure we have
(05:31):
a transport infrastructure system. It's for the twenty fifth century.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Because anecdotally, one of the resistances I hear when I'm
chatting to people is whenever we get into one of
those times when we have power cuts because we just
haven't got the electricity infrastructure. So forget the charges. How
much is the reliability of electricity infrastructure? Sort of flying
the ointment here.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
We're pretty good by international standards when it comes to
security of supply and reliability. I mean, our electricity system
has concerns around security during winter. I think it's well
known because we have a very renewable system and we
do need that thermal what they call firming capacity during
the during winter, and you know, it was well understood
(06:14):
now I think that we need gas and coal to
support the winter peaks in particular, and I've got a
real issue around shortage of gas. Partly thinks unfortunately to
the previous governments oil and gas band that mean that
people didn't go and explore for gas, which we're reversing.
So we do need that. But generally we've got a
pretty secure system through the transpower and the ultrosty lines
(06:34):
distribution businesses. The system is changing, though, and we've got
work under way around making sure that the system can
cope with greater electrification into the future. Because if you
think about the rise of evs, not just the electric
light vehicles that people drive, you know, residentially, but also
there's EV trucks coming on stream, there are EV buses
(06:59):
as well, and the electrification of the economy is going
to increase in the future. And that is actually a
good story for New Zealand because electrification in New Zealand
means electrification via via largely renewable energy. That's a really
positive story for New Zealand. But it does create some
stresses on the system that we need to, you know,
we need to adapt to.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
What will you be looking to prioritize in terms of areas,
I mean, will rural areas get a bit of priority,
because well, they're the probably the ones who can at
least justify the cost of it, or regions that have
currently very few charges where any priorities or just first
and first serve.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
The priority is value for money. So we want to
make sure that we're investing in areas where there is,
you know, the economics make better sense than the areas
where they don't make a lot of sense. But equally,
there's a there's obviously a desire to have a comprehensive
network around the country as well, and so there's a
there's a tension point there obviously, which we'll be working
(07:54):
through as part of the procurement process in the future years,
because there are parts of the country where you do
want EV charges to exist, but where the economics are challenging,
but we also want to make sure we take account
of it as well. So there's undoubtedly attention there, but
I think it's something that we can work through as
part of the commercial process.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Have over seas. Are we taking notes from anywhere?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yeah, I mean different countries do different things. I mean
it really depends. I mean other countries have sort of
similar model to the one we're proposing, where the government
is essentially you know, involved in co investment, and you
know what we used to do and have done for
about ten years, we've just had these direct grants where
the government's just basically showing out money to commercial providers
(08:37):
to put them in. We think moving towards a model
where loans are you know, they're essentially loans on subcommercial terms,
and concessionary loans is better because ultimately it means that
the money gets repaid to the crown, so the money
is recyclable, whereas lot grants grants are obviously not recyclable.
So this is the more effective and more effective use
of taxpan money.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
How are you still going to have to do? I
mean there will be some areas which, because we're geographically
diverse country and to get from a to be you
have to drive through some you know, some long distances
through unpopulated areas. There might be areas where the loan
doesn't make sense. So are you is it just going
to be a loan scheme or is there still room
for grants for just to keep the to spread it out.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
It's a loan scheme, But as I say, there are
that we're going to have to work through exactly the
policy design around that we do want to have a
we do want to have a you know, a network,
a comprehensive network around the country. And there are obviously areas,
as I say, where the economics are better than they
are for others.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
When are we going to notice?
Speaker 3 (09:35):
So there will be a procurement or will be a
what's called a request for proposals you know, procurement document
going out to the market in the next a couple
of months or so, and then you know that we
commercial negotiations underway after that, so you know we'll have
some have some announcements later in the year around that.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So we could see some an increase in charges quite
soon in the next sort of what six, eight, twelve months.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah, undoubtedly, And looks that there are charges going on
all the time. I'll just think about my own, my
own patch. I mean, there's the energy down the road
from from me, and for Tony, you know, there was
one charge of there just put its six i think
five or six fast charges and round the back of
the petrol station. So in charge nets obviously expanding their
network all the time. So there are charges going in
all the time. This is about accelerating the numbers. Look
(10:17):
about fourteen hundred around the country. Now we need more
than that. We know we want, we know we need
more than that. And so this is about the role
of government really is to help accelerate that listening role
out that's already happening.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Excellent. Hey Chris, thanks so much for your time and stuff,
and I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Appreciate it. Thanks, mate, we go.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
That's Chris Bishop. He's going to strength transport.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
For more from the Weekend Collective, listen live to News
Talk ZB weekends from three pm, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from news Talks dB.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
The government's set aside sixty eight point five million dollars
for an interest free EV charger loan scheme. The private
sector will be able to apply for a loan to
up the number of charges in New Zealand. Basically they've
committed to ten thousand public charges by twenty thirty, which
was up from only fourteen hundred, so quite an ambitious target.
(00:32):
And Transport Minister Chris Bishop is with me now, good afternoon, Well,
sixty eight point five million. I don't want to sort
of sort of million or billion in things, but it
doesn't seem like much money. Is that going to do
the trick?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
At one? Get us to the ten thousand, there will
be the further investment required, and to be honest, it's
a little bit we're not exactly sure how much more
will be required because one of the things we're going
to do is go out to the market and test
exactly what the economics are commercially around the country over
the next couple of years. With us initial sixty eight
(01:05):
five million, A lot depends on exactly what you build
and where you build it, so there's different types of
EV charges. Some are FA, some are flow. The economics
of some places are better than others, and so we're
committed to, you know, getting as close as we can
and get to the ten thousand by twenty thirty. It
will undoubtedly be further investment required, and you know it
will be future budget decisions around that in the years ahead.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I saw ten thousand. I think when your press release
was described as a stretch target, does that mean you've
just rounded it up to a nice number to sound good.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
No, no, no, The ten thousand is what we campaigned on,
and there is some rationale to it. So basically, we
have some of the lowest numbers of EV charges per
EV and the OECD, and so at the moment we
have about one charger for every eighty four evs. The
OECD average is about one for one to forty, So
(01:57):
ten by twenty thirty would give us around that number,
about one to forty based on the expected uptake of
evs by twenty thirty. So look, it's you know that
there's not a particularly hard science to it, but you know,
if you if you go for a good target of
one to forty, which is about the OECD average, that
would give us about ten by twenty thirty. So that's
why we picked that number and we stick it to that,
(02:18):
and we're trying to go for that.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
DC versus AC ones fast and one's a bit slower,
isn't it. Don't we want fast everywhere?
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Yeah, So New Zealand's interesting. We because of the grant
scheme that's been running under successive governments basically since about
twenty fifteen to sixteen, actually goes all the way back
to the last national government. We've we've basically as a
government funded a lot of dcs around the country and
so we have some of the highest number of DC charges,
which is the fast ones, relative to AC charges, which
(02:47):
are the slow ones in the world. And we actually
probably frankly needs more AC charges which are the slower ones,
but you know, have their role on the place as
well on the public network as well. And so that's
again one of the things that we'll be looking at
over the next couple of years as we move into
this new new procurement model through Thetional Infrastructure Something and
financing company is getting the mix right between d C
(03:09):
and AC around the country. And as I say that,
the sites, you know that it will depend on the sites.
So some parts of the country really well served by
d c's and other parts of the country are not,
so there's a lot of work to do.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
It's a bit like hotels or some public accommodation. People
stay the night a C is fine, whereas if you're
calling in for a pit stop somewhere, you really want
a d C.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, that's right. Although you know you find at supermarkets
there is a lot of d C fast charges around
the place, and that's good, but you know, there are
also the capacity potentially for for other parts of the
for other sites. You know, in tourist towns where you
know you could have a port you know, a big
portal of AC charges where people you know stop for
lunch for an hour or two, do some shopping for
(03:51):
ninety minutes two hours. You know, you can chuck the
AC on there. It actually does make quite a big
different And at the moment all you find is the
d CS, and often you find that people you know,
you park up there and you actually have to wait
for an hour or so to you know, because people
are using the d C charges. So the point is
that a mixture is required around the country and we'll
be aiming for that.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
So who's going to use the scheme.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
So there's existing private providers out there. I mean you
think of charge Net for example, there've been you know,
they've got sites all around the country. Meridian Energy obviously
has some charges. There's z Energy has some of their
petrol stations and that they're doing quite a role out
at the moment. So there's a range of private providers
out there now, and so we're not picking any one
particular provider. It will be a competitive procurement process and
(04:35):
we'll be engaging with the private providers. And I see
one of them already put out of press release responding
welcoming the scheme, so mentioned to see how it goes.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Is the goal really just to encourage people to purchase evs.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
The goal is to make sure that we have a
transport infrastructure system that supports the role out of evs.
And one of the things that does hold people back
from buying them is concerns about where they'll charge range anxiety.
You know a lot of roads in this country with
a long, skinny country, people do worry about running out
of juice. Fine in the cities, you know, people doing
(05:10):
ten kilometers, you know, back and forward to work or
school or whatever. They just charge at home, but for
people doing journeys, they do worry about running out of
juice on those journeys. And so, as I say, we
have some of the lowest numbers of EV charges around
the country and the oecd so this is about ameliorating
people's concerns about range anxiety and making sure we have
(05:31):
a transport infrastructure system. It's for the twenty fifth century.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Because anecdotally, one of the resistances I hear when I'm
chatting to people is whenever we get into one of
those times when we have power cuts because we just
haven't got the electricity infrastructure. So forget the charges. How
much is the reliability of electricity infrastructure? Sort of flying
the ointment here.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
We're pretty good by international standards when it comes to
security of supply and reliability. I mean, our electricity system
has concerns around security during winter. I think it's well
known because we have a very renewable system and we
do need that thermal what they call firming capacity during
the during winter, and you know, it was well understood
(06:14):
now I think that we need gas and coal to
support the winter peaks in particular, and I've got a
real issue around shortage of gas. Partly thinks unfortunately to
the previous governments oil and gas band that mean that
people didn't go and explore for gas, which we're reversing.
So we do need that. But generally we've got a
pretty secure system through the transpower and the ultrosty lines
(06:34):
distribution businesses. The system is changing, though, and we've got
work under way around making sure that the system can
cope with greater electrification into the future. Because if you
think about the rise of evs, not just the electric
light vehicles that people drive, you know, residentially, but also
there's EV trucks coming on stream, there are EV buses
(06:59):
as well, and the electrification of the economy is going
to increase in the future. And that is actually a
good story for New Zealand because electrification in New Zealand
means electrification via via largely renewable energy. That's a really
positive story for New Zealand. But it does create some
stresses on the system that we need to, you know,
we need to adapt to.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
What will you be looking to prioritize in terms of areas,
I mean, will rural areas get a bit of priority,
because well, they're the probably the ones who can at
least justify the cost of it, or regions that have
currently very few charges where any priorities or just first
and first serve.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
The priority is value for money. So we want to
make sure that we're investing in areas where there is,
you know, the economics make better sense than the areas
where they don't make a lot of sense. But equally,
there's a there's obviously a desire to have a comprehensive
network around the country as well, and so there's a
there's a tension point there obviously, which we'll be working
(07:54):
through as part of the procurement process in the future years,
because there are parts of the country where you do
want EV charges to exist, but where the economics are challenging,
but we also want to make sure we take account
of it as well. So there's undoubtedly attention there, but
I think it's something that we can work through as
part of the commercial process.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Have over seas. Are we taking notes from anywhere?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Yeah, I mean different countries do different things. I mean
it really depends. I mean other countries have sort of
similar model to the one we're proposing, where the government
is essentially you know, involved in co investment, and you
know what we used to do and have done for
about ten years, we've just had these direct grants where
the government's just basically showing out money to commercial providers
(08:37):
to put them in. We think moving towards a model
where loans are you know, they're essentially loans on subcommercial terms,
and concessionary loans is better because ultimately it means that
the money gets repaid to the crown, so the money
is recyclable, whereas lot grants grants are obviously not recyclable.
So this is the more effective and more effective use
of taxpan money.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
How are you still going to have to do? I
mean there will be some areas which, because we're geographically
diverse country and to get from a to be you
have to drive through some you know, some long distances
through unpopulated areas. There might be areas where the loan
doesn't make sense. So are you is it just going
to be a loan scheme or is there still room
for grants for just to keep the to spread it out.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
It's a loan scheme, But as I say, there are
that we're going to have to work through exactly the
policy design around that we do want to have a
we do want to have a you know, a network,
a comprehensive network around the country. And there are obviously areas,
as I say, where the economics are better than they
are for others.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
When are we going to notice?
Speaker 3 (09:35):
So there will be a procurement or will be a
what's called a request for proposals you know, procurement document
going out to the market in the next a couple
of months or so, and then you know that we
commercial negotiations underway after that, so you know we'll have
some have some announcements later in the year around that.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So we could see some an increase in charges quite
soon in the next sort of what six, eight, twelve months.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah, undoubtedly, And looks that there are charges going on
all the time. I'll just think about my own, my
own patch. I mean, there's the energy down the road
from from me, and for Tony, you know, there was
one charge of there just put its six i think
five or six fast charges and round the back of
the petrol station. So in charge nets obviously expanding their
network all the time. So there are charges going in
all the time. This is about accelerating the numbers. Look
(10:17):
about fourteen hundred around the country. Now we need more
than that. We know we want, we know we need
more than that. And so this is about the role
of government really is to help accelerate that listening role
out that's already happening.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Excellent. Hey Chris, thanks so much for your time and stuff,
and I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Appreciate it. Thanks, mate, we go.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
That's Chris Bishop. He's going to strength transport.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
For more from the Weekend Collective, listen live to News
Talk ZB weekends from three pm, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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