EV Salary Boost: it's a pay rise you can drive!
EECA has published the first report from its two-way EV charging trial in Queenstown, which is being conducted in partnership with Rewiring Aotearoa, Retyna and McKay.
As ECCA posted on social media:
This first report outlines the current state of the vehicle to grid charging market in New Zealand including:
⚡ vehicle compatibility
⚡ manufacturer support
⚡ charger availability
⚡ broader market readiness
Key takeaways include…
🚘 Commercial deployment in New Zealand is currently limited by the availability of compatible vehicles and chargers, electricity market arrangements, and vehicle manufacturer support.
🚘 Although the market is starting to develop, coordination across vehicle manufacturers, charger suppliers, electricity retailers, network companies, regulators and consumers will be essential for widespread adoption. This includes software compatibility and open communication between technologies.
🚘 Continued improvements in vehicle manufacturer support, charger availability and commercial incentives are expected to accelerate market development over the coming years.
Widespread use of newer two-way or vehicle-to-grid (V2G) charging technologies (enabling electricity to flow from the EV battery back into anywhere connected to the grid) could potentially reduce New Zealand’s overall electricity system costs, by making better use of existing infrastructure and avoiding or delaying some new investment.
Over time, this could contribute to downward pressure on electricity prices. Our research is testing how two-way charging performs in real New Zealand conditions, and we will keep sharing our findings as we go.
Along with taxes, education and health, energy is proving to be a big talking point in the run up to the election .. which is now 33 days away. All the political parties have released some energy policies .. and while they're quite varied in their approaches .. the main focus seems to be bringing down the cost of electricity for us consumers. Our first guest would like electric transport to also be part of the conversation .. he's calling for a 'great EV comeback' and has some ideas about how to make it happen. Mike Casey, Rewiring Aotearoa Chief Executive joins Jesse.
The electric election continues apace! National announced its 'Electrify NZ 2.0 plan' last week and Mike Casey joined Andrew Dickens on Newstalk ZB to talk about the potential for peer-to-peer trading of energy, the roll of solar in lowering power prices, data centres needing to bring their own generation, and the likelihood that all this talk will turn into action.
