Number of public EV chargers lagging, EV advocacy group says

Public EV charger numbers are lagging, EV advocacy group Drive Electric says, with bottlenecks forming at some sites.

The government has set a goal of having 10,000 public chargers nationwide by 2030, but latest Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority (EECA) figures put the number of public chargers at 2182.

Drive Electric's Kirsten Corson, told Nine to Noon, public chargers were lacking in regional towns, along tourist routes and apartment buildings.

Corson said public chargers were put in by a variety of different charge point operators who had to work with lines companies to get connections.

This was "quite complicated", Corson said, as there were 29 different lines companies all with different pricing.

She said the Electricity Authority had been working hard to try and standardise the connection process and there had been some bipartisan support for this.

She said there wasn't always enough capacity in transformers and there was different pricing depending on which region a charger was in.

"It takes an incredible amount of coordination," Corson said.

The infrastructure was there though, Corson said, and New Zealand had a strong supplyside and demandside policy that would give confidence to private investors to come in on infrastructure.

Most EV owners were charging at home or work, Corson said rather than at public places because it was so much cheaper.

"If you're charging off peak overnight [at home], it's about $3 per 100km. [There's a] big saving with EVs if you're charging at home..."

When using a public charger, Corson said there was some etiquette to be mindful of including not parking a petrol car in the spot and only charging for as much as you needed to get home.

"On the whole people are really polite... it is frustrating when you pull up and see a charging has finished and the person is still at the cafe."

Corson said the installation of public chargers needed to accelerate and New Zealand needed to attract private investment into the country.

Energy Minister Simeon Brown, told Nine to Noon in a statement, the government was committed to the target of 10,000 chargers by 2030.

"The fuel crisis has seen a pickup in EV sales and as demand for charging stations increases the government expects investment to follow."

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