Kirsten Corson: Chair of Drive Electric on the Government's latest push to have more public EV chargers missing the point

The Government's planning to build thousands of EV chargers by 2030. 

Using a concessionary loan scheme to do it, the Government will use a private-public funding model to build the charging model. 

Currently New Zealand has about 1400 EV charging stations. 

Chair of Drive Electric Kirsten Corson tells Ryan Bridge she isn't sure their plan will work. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So the government very busy weekend for them actually going
to dish out interest free loans to private companies to
build more EV charging stations around the country. This is
so if you've got a leaf or you've got an
iconic you can plug in and carry on your merry way.
It replaces the current grant scheme, the government putting sixty
eight and a half million dollars forward as interest free

(00:22):
loans for companies to build the infrastructure. Kirston Couson is
the chair of Drive Electric with me this morning. Kirston,
good morning, Good morning Ryan, great to have you on. Now.
Is this going to change the game, Well, we do need.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Something to change the game because we're definitely falling behind
the OECD, and it is positive to see the government
are still committed to the ten thousand charges by twenty thirty,
which is quite a target. So we're hoping it can
be a game changer.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
But you sound a bit cautious.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Well, it's a new model. So the majority of OECD
countries have grant based funding and they do it because
it works. So for every dollar that the government invests,
they get around three dollars plus of economic benefit. You know,
it's a proven model, where this is a new model
and we've got eighty six hundred charges to get in
the ground by twenty thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
I guess the government's argument will be, well, they're better,
the private businesses will be better at doing it than
anyone else will. What about how easy is it to
actually get the charging systems and plugged into the grid.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Well, that's another challenge for us. It's not like an
ultra fast broadband rollout. Most OCD countries have around ten
lines companies, whereas New Zealand's got twenty nine. So twenty
nine lines companies with different pricing models, with different processes,
and there's a lack of visibility of network capacity as well.

(01:52):
So it's a lot harder to roll out charging infrastructure
than it is ultra fast broadband.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
What is the difference between you know, different regions, if
you've got a different lines company, what is the potential
difference in cost?

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Well, it can be hundreds of thousands of dollars. So
it may take you six weeks in one region to
figure out if there's enough network capacity on a transformer,
but it might take you three months in a different region.
So you know, it's quite challenging for the charge point operators,
and I guess another question for us is how this

(02:31):
program support rural New Zealand and our provinces, because it's
really appealing for our charge point operators to install our
charges public charges in the big cities where there's a
really strong economic return, but it's a little bit more
challenging to get the economic return in our provinces the

(02:54):
lower population base.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
A really good point, Kristin. Really appreciate your analysis this
morning Kirsten Collson's share of Drive elect For more from
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