$170m promised for EV chargers yet to materialise
The National Party leader, and soon-to-be Prime Minister, was in Christchurch to unveil a $257 million pledge to 'supercharge' EV infrastructure through seed funding to private firms. 'National will deliver a comprehensive, nationwide network of 10,000 public electric vehicle chargers by 2030,' the policy document said.
Flanked by future ministers Simeon Brown and Simon Watts, Luxon said: 'We've got to get our emissions down, and the way we do that is we accelerate the transition to EVs.'
National was walking a fine line.
Luxon said range anxiety was a major barrier to potential EV buyers, and New Zealand had the worst rate for public chargers among developed countries – which was true.
At the same time, however, it was scrapping the EV-subsidising clean car discount (and associated 'ute tax'), which had cost hundreds of millions of dollars but encouraged the purchase of thousands of battery electric and plug-in hybrid cars. (Since then EV owners have been slapped with road user charges and a hike in ACC levies.)
The supercharged part of National's EV infrastructure promise was an extra $170m.
Now, more than halfway through the National-led coalition Government's term, how much new money has it spent, or earmarked, for EV-charging infrastructure?
Zero.
This situation is confirmed by Budget documents, and by Energy and Climate Change Minister Watts, who says there's $69m remaining from the original appropriation (under the previous Labour government) for building more EV chargers but none set aside in subsequent years.
'Any future funding will be sought in the context of future Budget cycles,' Watts says. Barring an electoral surprise, the next Budget will be delivered in election year.
Kirsten Corson, chair of lobby group Drive Electric, says the Government isn't on track to meet the 10,000 charger target, it has 'decelerated' the electric vehicle sector, and is missing a massive economic opportunity to decarbonise transport.
'We're far from supercharging,' she says, adding later the Government's 'definitely trickle charging'.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop says the 10,000 figure is an ambitious stretch goal.
'EVs are an important part of New Zealand's transport future and the Government is backing them through a cost-effective scheme to roll out a charging network around the country.'
His National Party colleague Watts, meanwhile, says EV charging infrastructure remains a high priority, and the Government is committed to the 2030 target.
'As we have less than six years, we have taken the time to ensure that we have a structured, effective scheme that will be successful in getting the infrastructure built.'
Officials aren't as bullish, however, as revealed by comments in more than 200 pages of advice and Cabinet papers released to Newsroom by Bishop's office under official information laws.
The transport minister has been warned more money will be needed to hit National's goal – and there might still be a need for grants, or suspensory loans. It's not clear how much more needs to be added because estimates were redacted.
In April, Bishop said it would be less than $100m.
The final amount will depend on the proportion of AC chargers built, which are much cheaper than DC ones but charge at a slower rate. There's also ongoing work to lower electricity network connection costs, and simplify consenting.
Certainly, the pace needs to speed up.
Chart: EECA
In September 2023, when Luxon made the 10,000-charger pledge, the number of EV chargers around the country was estimated to be about 1200. At the end of last year it was 1378.
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) figures, released to Newsroom, state a further 136 charge points have been completed so far this year.
If the 10,000 charger goal is to be met by 2030, 157 chargers will need to be finished every month for the next 54 months.
A 'request for proposals' for public EV-charging infrastructure loans was only issued this month.
EECA's general manager of delivery and partnerships Richard Briggs says the initial focus was having at least one fast charger every 75km across the State highway network. 'The momentum of charger installations, and charging providers in the market, has accelerated rapidly in recent years.'
Corson, Drive Electric's chair, says the Government has over-promised and under-delivered. 'This is National's KiwiBuild project.'
Relative go-slow
While the Government is adept at using urgency to pursue its legislative priorities, the EV charger policy has been on a relative go-slow.
A Cabinet paper from April last year noted the next update would be in October, after which the industry was consulted. But it appears decisions had already been made.
In April this year, Bishop (who replaced Brown as transport minister in January) and Watts announced the Government would change the way its funds EV infrastructure, using concessionary loans instead of grants.
A Ministry of Transport briefing paper from last July said: 'You have indicated that a concessional loan approach is your preferred way of financing co-investment in charging infrastructure.'
Grants are the dominant approach for funding EV chargers internationally.
A transport ministry paper from June last year said: 'The use of grant funding (at least when used on its own) is inconsistent with your objective to recycle Crown capital to support further investment over time.'
Recycling capital is shorthand for loan repayments, which could be used to fund more EV chargers – should Cabinet decide that's the best use of funds.
Transport officials said last July: 'The move from grant funding to concessional loans will be a significant shift, and the response from the market is uncertain.'
A switch to loans fulfils the National-Act Party coalition agreement, which mandated the programme 'specifically take into account Act's concern that there be robust cost-benefit analysis to ensure maximum benefit for government investment'.
A paper to Cabinet's economic policy committee, from last September, said cost-benefit analysis principles and a value-for-money approach, used in procurement design and criteria for assessing proposals, were developed with Act's Simon Court, the parliamentary under-secretary for infrastructure.
Loan applicants have to demonstrate the benefits outweigh the costs. The value-for-money approach will 'favour applications requesting low percentage Crown contributions, shorter loan tenures, and earlier repayments', a Cabinet paper from April last year said.
We asked Act's Court if his party, and the coalition agreement, was a handbrake on the EV infrastructure scheme.
'Act is proud to have pulled the plug on Labour's 'climate change ATM',' Court says. 'We've insisted on robust cost-benefit analysis before any further taxpayer funds are committed. If something stacks up, great, but the default should not be subsidies.'
The Government is shifting management of the EV-charging infrastructure programme from EECA to National Infrastructure Funding and Financing, the successor organisation to Crown Infrastructure partners, which managed the rollout of ultra-fast broadband.
Court says the broadband programme is an example of disciplined public investment.
'A small amount of Crown capital helped crowd in massive private investment, delivered huge gains for New Zealanders, and is now being fully recycled for other infrastructure priorities. That's what a sound business case looks like and it's the kind of approach Act could support.'
Transport Minister Bishop says: 'Concessionary loans will bring forward private investment in public EV-charging infrastructure 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.'
Hitting the 10,000 charger target would require 'regular refinement of the co-investment model', officials said, including the 'limited use of grants or suspensory loans' to build chargers in remote or rural locations, and holiday hotspots. (Given the expanding range of new electric cars, it's fair to assume the target might be re-assessed.)
A hypercharger for electric cars – New Zealand's fastest – south of Auckland in the Bombay Hills. Photo: ChargeNet
Luxon's lament in that Christchurch car park in 2023 was that New Zealand languished at the bottom of the OECD table, with one public charger for every 95 EVs. That was based on the International Energy Agency's Global EV Outlook 2023.
There's good news and bad from the 2025 edition. It says New Zealand's ratio has improved to 82 EVs per charger – but we've maintained our bottom rank. (Australia is second on 76, while third-placed Mexico's ratio is 41.)
Fundamentally, though, will the 'rapid rollout' of EV charging stations make any difference to EV sales?
According to April's Cabinet paper, access to public EV charging is a 'key factor' in enabling faster uptake and while more chargers will give 'greater confidence', any surge in EV sales is 'difficult to quantify'.
In 2024, EVs were 6.7 percent of new light vehicle registrations, and 2.6 percent of the total light vehicles. 'Ministry of Transport modelling suggests that by 2030 the share of light EVs could be expected to be around 7.2-11.2 percent of the fleet.'
What about Luxon's comment, two years ago, that the way to reduce the country's emissions was to 'accelerate the transition to EVs'?
Climate assessments state the EV charger policy doesn't meet the 'threshold for significance', and is expected to deliver only 0.21 million tonnes of emissions reductions between 2026 and 2035.
In 2023, New Zealand's gross emissions were 76.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent gases.
Without a drastic reduction in emissions, the country will likely have to buy billions of dollars' worth of overseas carbon credits to meet our Paris Agreement targets.
New Zealand's rating on Climate Action Tracker is 'highly insufficient', and the Government's approach is being challenged in a world-first legal challenge.
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