The public EV charging network has received a significant boost with co-funding announced over the weekend for over 100 EV chargers across New Zealand, with many planned to be up and running on key holiday routes by Christmas this year.
Minister of Energy and Resources Dr Megan Woods confirmed 16 projects will receive co-funding from Rounds 6 (Destination Charging), 9 (Journey Charging) and 10 (Charging Hubs) of the Low Emission Transport Fund (LETF).
“New chargers will be situated at places like shopping centres where people may be parked for up to a couple of hours,” said Megan Woods.
“To help with longer journeys, the government is co-funding high-speed chargers on main highways at 19 popular holiday routes including Bombay, Turangi and Wanaka. Also included are the country’s first charging ‘hubs’ where up to ten high-speed chargers will sit alongside amenities like food options and toilets.”
Altogether, the 16 projects will receive $11 million in government co-funding, matched by $13.5 million in private investment.
“We are starting to bend the curve on transport emissions,” said Megan Woods. “The latest data shows that emissions from household vehicle use fell 2.5% in the December 2022 quarter. We want to not only continue that downward trend but accelerate its pace.”
Also last week, we released the latest report in our Regional Energy Transition Accelerator (RETA) programme – for the Otago region. The RETA programme has now delivered reports for four South Island regions, and work on the final two regions in the South Island is underway.
