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While the vast majority of EV charging happens at home, reliable public charging infrastructure is essential for those who don't have that option and for those occasional longer trips. ChargeNet, which just celebrated its tenth birthday, has been there from the start and, whether it's the 50kW workhorse of the early days or the 300kW beast of today, the company has helped more New Zealanders drive on locally-made electrons rather than foreign fossil fuel molecules.
The network now spans over 500 charging points across the country and it has logged more than three million charging sessions since it was launched by Steve and Dee West in 2015 (they also imported the country’s first Tesla). CEO Danusia Wypch says the company is expecting strong year-on-year growth as the economics of EVs continues to improve.
Upfront costs of EVs continue to drop, proposed changes to the Road User Charges system mean that EVs will be the cheapest option per kilometre, and promising vehicle-to-grid technology means the big batteries in our cars could soon be another revenue stream and also play an important role in the energy system.
There is also growing interest among business fleets, commercial customers, and trades in EVs and there are now also more options than ever for fast charging, with a number of petrol stations adding it to their offering at main centres (while more fast charging options are positive, we also need more slower public charging options at places where cars are often parked for long periods as they don't require major network upgrades).
While policy changes have impacted demand in New Zealand, the long-term trend is clear, both here and around the world. ChargeNet research shows almost 25 per cent of Kiwis already own or are considering buying an EV in the next three years, so if you're EV curious, the best way to see what it's like - and to dispel some of the misperceptions - is to take one for a spin.
Just try not to have two pies every time you charge up.
Financial commentator Frances Cook uses her own story to show that that an investment in solar and an EV significantly outperforms the stock market and fellow number cruncher Nadine Higgins says that if you do it right, EVs are cheaper to run and own; EV sales have climbed to their highest level since 2022 and are closing in on 2023's numbers and Go Rentals has just invested $2.3 million in some new Tesla Model Y Premiums; the gap between energy costs of diesel vans and utes and electric vans and utes is absolutely massive; solar is also going off right now, with one installer in Otago 448% above their sales target in March; Lightforce has gone back to the Barretts with a new TV ad; Wellington mayor Andrew Little explains its electrification strategy and Hutt City Council shares data showing how its fleet has gone from dirty Toyotas to cleaner EVs; Shenzen in China has electrified its public transport and taxis and that's come with big benefits - and some challenges; and a very simple illustration of the LNG terminal.
Read moreDownloadAs Minister of energy, climate and local government, Simon Watts had a great opportunity to push the country towards cheaper, cleaner and more reliable New Zealand-made energy. And that’s why we laid down a challenge and gave him the ‘MegaWatts’ moniker last year. Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey says he did some good things, like enabling more solar on farms, removing tax on solar exports, fixing onerous solar consenting requirements, putting pressure on the lines companies to pull up their socks, and getting the ball rolling on the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme. "But the LNG import terminal appears to have been a defining issue."
Read moreDownloadAfter ‘crunching the numbers’ and adding in new sources of ‘New Zealand-made energy’ to our equations, CEO Mike Casey has announced that Rewiring Aotearoa will be changing its name to Refuelling Aotearoa. There has been a huge amount of independently verified research showing electrification beats fossil fuels on economics, efficiency, emissions and energy security and that there is a huge opportunity for New Zealand to electrify, but the discovery of an infinite supply of snake oil in New Zealand has changed everything, he says.
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