Wellington’s EV charger programme under review

A Wellington City Council programme once expected to be a profitable investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure has instead turned into a financial loss.

With $2 million of the original $3.4 million budget already spent and only $89,780 recovered in revenue, the programme is paused and under review, Stuff reports.

The project originally set out to install 60 EV chargers with the council’s investment supported by the Government’s Low Emission Transport Fund (LETF), administered by EECA (the Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority).

Councillor Ben McNulty called it “downright shocking” that the programme’s financial reality was only revealed through an official information request.

Fellow councillor Nureddin Abdurahman, who had previously criticised the initiative as benefiting wealthy EV owners, said lessons needed to be learned from the cost overruns. Meanwhile, Iona Pannett was among councillors who argued that private companies, rather than ratepayers, should now take responsibility for EV charging infrastructure, Stuff reports.