New charging stations pave the way for electric cars

The arrival of electric vehicle company Tesla in New Zealand last week is expected to see a surge in the number of electric cars being sold here.

But for those wanting to drive their electric vehicle (EV) beyond the city limits, how easy is it to recharge the car's battery?

A new company building a nationwide network of fast chargers for EVs says they have the solution and it won't be long before EV owners will be able to travel wherever and whenever they like.

ChargeNet NZ CEO Steve West says there are already more than 40 charging stations across the country with a new one being installed every two weeks.

"What we consider our minimum viable network is 100 stations because we need one every 60 to 70km on every highway in New Zealand," says Mr West.

The charging stations use state-of-the-art technology that significantly speeds up the time required to charge an EV's battery.

"Our fast chargers mean what takes you 6 hours to do at home will take you only 20 minutes at one of our stations."

West says on top of paying for the electricity, EV owners will be charged 25c per minute to charge their cars.

"That means for a Nissan Leaf it will cost about $10 to charge your car. It will be more expensive for a larger car, maybe $30 to $40 but that's still half the price of petrol."

West says even though the vast majority of EV charging will take place at owners' homes overnight, his company's fast charging network will be increasingly important as the number of EVs in New Zealand increases.

"At present there are more than 2000 EVs registered in New Zealand but the rate of growth is exceeding expectations. We're more than doubling the number of EVs sold every year so by the end of 2021 we should have more than 64 thousand vehicles on the road."