NZ EV charging on track
Both ChargeNet NZ’s Steve West and the Better NZ Trust’s Kathryn Trounson take issue with comments about EV charging from Dr Colin Herron
of Zero Carbon Futures in the United Kingdom.
Herron suggests New Zealand shouldn’t put in more EV charge points until utilisation figures show the demand is there for them, and he also adds that nobody can use 350kW chargers so it’s better to stick with 150kW EV chargers as a maximum.
“It would be very short-sighted to dismiss 300kW charging,” West says.
“EV battery technology is improving so rapidly that in a few short years a 15-minute charge time will be a box that every vehicle will want to tick.
Steve West
“At ChargeNet we’re taking a pragmatic approach to high power charging, offering 300kW to the cars that can use it, but spreading the power dynamically between up to three cars at once.”
West points out that New Zealand is very different to the UK, especially in its charging landscape.
“We are virtually the same size but with a fraction of the population.
“There is a minimum level of coverage needed so you can drive an EV anywhere in NZ, which for many potential buyers is a prerequisite.
“We aren’t there yet, but we’re getting close.
“As a private business, we respond to demand for charging services, which can be clearly seen in the Wellington region.”
West says NZ is one of the few developed countries without emissions standards or subsidies.
“New Zealanders are very price-sensitive, and much of the EV sales success we’ve had to date has been helped by leveraging other country’s subsidies through used vehicle imports.
“The evidence shows that reducing the price differential between EVs and conventional vehicles has a dramatic effect on uptake.”
Trounson agrees with West, adding high power chargers like those ChargeNet NZ has at Bombay are already being used and not just to charge one EV at a time.
Good charging infrastructure also encourages people to buy EVs, she says.
“All power to anyone who wants to increase New Zealand’s charging network.”
Trounson points out that the trust has just completed separate loops of the North Island and South Island during the Leading the Charge EV road tour and found New Zealand’s charging infrastructure more than adequate.
She adds that EV owners generally have one fob to pay for EV charging in New Zealand whereas the UK has many different payment methods.
Trounson is satisfied New Zealand is on the right track with EV charging.
Join the conversation (1)
“EV battery technology is improving so rapidly that in a few short years a 15-minute charge time will be a box that every vehicle will want to tick. Correct but aspiration does not overcome the technical problems that exist and will for many years. All cars can use a 300kW charger but only at the cars max rate so my leaf will take 50kW and the Leaf is what most of your EV are, If you are expecting a lot of second hand or even new RHD Porsche Taycan then OK.
No comment on utilisation. What is the current utilisation of the rapids in NZ? Take a window of 7am to 10pm i.e. 15 hrs x the number of chargers and then what was the average use figure by time taking power?
It is stated that there is a minimum level of coverage required please what is that level and how did you calculate it?
The UK is the same as NZ in terms of matching supply and demand. In the UK we have no policy just carpet bomb the country with chargers of any type regardless of utilisation figures.