Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Kirsten Corson: Chair of Drive Electric on the Government's latest push to have more public EV chargers missing the point

Transcript

Kirsten Corson: Chair of Drive Electric on the Government's latest push to have more public EV chargers missing the point · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So the government very busy weekend for them actually going
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: to dish out interest free loans to private companies to
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: build more EV charging stations around the country. This is
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: so if you've got a leaf or you've got an
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: iconic you can plug in and carry on your merry way.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: It replaces the current grant scheme, the government putting sixty
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: eight and a half million dollars forward as interest free
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: loans for companies to build the infrastructure. Kirston Couson is
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: the chair of Drive Electric with me this morning. Kirston,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: good morning, Good morning Ryan, great to have you on. Now.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Is this going to change the game, Well, we do need.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Something to change the game because we're definitely falling behind
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: the OECD, and it is positive to see the government
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: are still committed to the ten thousand charges by twenty thirty,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: which is quite a target. So we're hoping it can
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: be a game changer.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: But you sound a bit cautious.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Well, it's a new model. So the majority of OECD
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: countries have grant based funding and they do it because
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: it works. So for every dollar that the government invests,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: they get around three dollars plus of economic benefit. You know,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: it's a proven model, where this is a new model
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: and we've got eighty six hundred charges to get in
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: the ground by twenty thirty.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I guess the government's argument will be, well, they're better,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: the private businesses will be better at doing it than
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: anyone else will. What about how easy is it to
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: actually get the charging systems and plugged into the grid.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Well, that's another challenge for us. It's not like an
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: ultra fast broadband rollout. Most OCD countries have around ten
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: lines companies, whereas New Zealand's got twenty nine. So twenty
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: nine lines companies with different pricing models, with different processes,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: and there's a lack of visibility of network capacity as well.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: So it's a lot harder to roll out charging infrastructure
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: than it is ultra fast broadband.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: What is the difference between you know, different regions, if
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: you've got a different lines company, what is the potential
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: difference in cost?
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Well, it can be hundreds of thousands of dollars. So
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: it may take you six weeks in one region to
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: figure out if there's enough network capacity on a transformer,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: but it might take you three months in a different region.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: So you know, it's quite challenging for the charge point operators,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: and I guess another question for us is how this
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: program support rural New Zealand and our provinces, because it's
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: really appealing for our charge point operators to install our
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: charges public charges in the big cities where there's a
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: really strong economic return, but it's a little bit more
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: challenging to get the economic return in our provinces the
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: lower population base.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: A really good point, Kristin. Really appreciate your analysis this
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: morning Kirsten Collson's share of Drive elect For more from
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: early edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talk
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: SETB from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio