Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Greig Epps: Imported Vehicles Association Chief Executive on the Government investing in EV chargers
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Government wants to double ev charging points via interest free loans.
- 0:03Speaker 1: An extra two and a half thousand is what we promised.
- 0:06Speaker 1: Fifty two million and zero interest loans on the table,
- 0:08Speaker 1: plus another sixty million from charge Net and Meridian. Greg
- 0:12Speaker 1: IPPs is Important Vehicle Association CEO with me live this morning.
- 0:15Speaker 2: Greg. Good morning, Morny Ryan. How's it going very well?
- 0:18Speaker 1: Thank you. Is this a doable plan?
- 0:22Speaker 2: I think so. I mean, I think the great thing
- 0:25Speaker 2: that has happened here is that the government has actually
- 0:28Speaker 2: spent over the last year or so working with industry.
- 0:32Speaker 2: There's been an industry stakeholder group that has come together
- 0:37Speaker 2: on a regular basis to talk about how these things
- 0:40Speaker 2: could be done. There's been a really good survey done
- 0:43Speaker 2: of how many charges are out there and where the
- 0:46Speaker 2: gaps might be. So this is really a good step
- 0:49Speaker 2: towards plugging the gaps there.
- 0:51Speaker 1: Do you think that from a consumer point of view?
- 0:55Speaker 1: Is that the biggest problem that I think I'm not
- 0:58Speaker 1: going to be able to charge it. There's not going
- 0:59Speaker 1: to be enough.
- 1:01Speaker 2: I think there's a few things. I mean, I think
- 1:04Speaker 2: solving our transport problems I've described as being like a triathlon.
- 1:09Speaker 2: You know, you need to actually try and have a
- 1:11Speaker 2: few sets of skills there. People are worried about charging
- 1:15Speaker 2: infrastructure and so being able to show people that if
- 1:19Speaker 2: you have an EV you can get anywhere. I think,
- 1:22Speaker 2: you know, there's always the price hurdle to get over,
- 1:28Speaker 2: and there's also a bit of a supply hurdle because
- 1:30Speaker 2: there's you know, every country out there is trying to
- 1:34Speaker 2: get hold of these vehicles, and so for us to
- 1:37Speaker 2: be able to get them at prices we can afford
- 1:39Speaker 2: is always going to be an issue too. But for
- 1:42Speaker 2: people who are looking and can afford, having the knowledge
- 1:46Speaker 2: that there's good charging network out there, I think will help.
- 1:49Speaker 1: The other thing is just the price of them of
- 1:51Speaker 1: buying an EV is normally more, normally more expensive than
- 1:54Speaker 1: a combustion engine.
- 1:56Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, but you know, some of the newer vehicles
- 1:59Speaker 2: come and it really depends on the family circumstance or
- 2:04Speaker 2: the small business circumstance. There are some evs that are
- 2:07Speaker 2: coming in at around thirty thousand or in that thirty
- 2:11Speaker 2: thousand range. Now that's a price that I think some
- 2:15Speaker 2: corporates and small businesses could afford, or some of the
- 2:18Speaker 2: families who are better off. My members are independent importers
- 2:22Speaker 2: and they're bringing in used imports and we know that
- 2:26Speaker 2: those vehicles are really heading in the space for a
- 2:29Speaker 2: lot of Kiwi families. Now, we don't have a lot
- 2:32Speaker 2: of evs available in Japan to bring in. So it's
- 2:37Speaker 2: like I said, it's a triathlon. There needs to be
- 2:39Speaker 2: people who are good at the running and the swimming
- 2:41Speaker 2: and people who are good at the cycling. We bring
- 2:44Speaker 2: them all together and we can solve the transport problem.
- 2:47Speaker 2: So you know we're hitting the affordable space. We really
- 2:50Speaker 2: need the new car industry to be bringing in the
- 2:53Speaker 2: new technology.
- 2:54Speaker 1: GRIG. It's important Vehicle associations, So good to have you
- 2:57Speaker 1: on the show. As always.
- 2:59Speaker 2: For more familiar with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News
- 3:02Speaker 2: Talks it Be from five am weekdays, or follow the
- 3:05Speaker 2: podcast on iHeartRadio.