The Government will use $68.5 million set-aside for grants for new EV charging stations, to fund the loans. The scheme will be administered by National Infrastructure Funding and Financing (NIFFCo), the successor organisation to Crown Infrastructure Partners (which delivered ultra-fast broadband).
The loans would be at 0% interest over a term of 13 years.
“They will be up to 50% of the capital costs of new EV chargers and clearly we will have a preference for proposals that require less Government investment and more investment from the private sector,” he said.
The funding is less than what National promised on the campaign, when it said it would invest $257m.
Bishop said he had been advised by officials that more funding would be needed to hit the 10,000 target — although the amount of money required would be less than $100m.
“There will be future investment required,” he said.
He said the $257m cost of the scheme National had budgeted during the election was a “back of the envelope” calculation “based on what we were seeing at the market at the time”.
During coalition negotiations, the Act Party secured a concession that any charging network be subject to a “robust cost benefit analysis to ensure maximum benefit for government investment”.
Bishop said each investment will have a cost-benefit analysis and each successful applicant must demonstrate that the benefits of the project outweigh the costs.
Bishop said the loans would bring forward investment in the charging network by lowering the cost of capital.
“They will also provide better value for money by maximising private sector investment while keeping the taxpayers’ contribution to a minimum,” he said.
“Loans will be awarded through contestable co-investment rounds, and applications will be open to proposals to establish portfolios of public EV charging sites (i.e. multiple charging locations). This is the best way to support scaled-up development and to maximise competitive tension between providers,” he said.
Watts said switching the fleet to EVs made sense for New Zealand, given most electricity here is generated from renewable sources.
“With our bountiful renewable energy resources EVs are a winner for New Zealand. Kiwis charging their EVs are essentially filling their cars with predominantly water, wind, and geothermal energy – rather than fossil fuels – due to our high level of renewable energy," he said.
“There are real benefits to owning an EV. Not only does it support our economic and climate goals, but it also delivers long-term benefits to users by helping keep running costs low. This Government is focused on growing the economy so Kiwis can get ahead,” he said.
Bishop said the cost of building chargers could vary wildly. DC chargers, better known as fast-chargers, were more expensive because they often require upgrading nearby electricity infrastructure.
AC chargers were cheaper. New Zealand had a high ratio of DC chargers relative to AC chargers.
Bishop said changes to the RMA will make installing the chargers a permitted activity, which do not require resource consents. Watts was working on improvements to electricity infrastructure to handle the demands of the new network.
Thomas Coughlan is the NZ Herald political editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for theHerald since 2021 and has worked in the Press Gallery since 2018.
