Nowhere to charge? – EV Mythbusters

Charging at Home

First and foremost, the majority of charging in New Zealand is done at home and, according to a 2023 survey by EECA , just about all (97%) of EV owners charge at home at least some of the time, and 80% do more than half their charging at home.

Whenever the question is asked (normally by a petrol car driver) “How long does it take you to charge?” an EV owner will normally answer “About 10 seconds” As that is the time it takes to plug the car in!

Saving Money as well as time

In addition, the survey showed that off-peak plans were being accessed by 69% of respondents, through their home electricity retailer. This has been persuasive in encouraging people to charge at off-peak times and has further increased the cost savings of running and EV compared to petrol.

So if you have a three pin socket in your garage, or a convenient dedicated home charger, then that is likely to be where you are going to be doing the majority of your charging. Considering many New Zealanders travel relatively short distances each day, often home charging is sufficient to keep a car topped up and many EV drivers will never need to use a public charger.

Public charging

For those living in properties where there is no access to charging and for longer journeys EV drivers need access to a decent public charging network – this means chargers that work, chargers that are available, and chargers in convenient locations en route or at a destination.

New Zealand is probably the only country in the world that relied SOLELY on private investment to start installing electric vehicle charging infrastructure (ChargeNet NZ). The foresight of the West family, gave New Zealand a significant advantage in establishing infrastructure early on and this was further accelerated by matched government funding support from 2016 onwards, for those who were brave and willing enough to risk investing themselves.

Growth in EVs and public charging

In recent years, as the number of EVs on the roads have grown, more Charge point operators have entered the market. New Zealand now has several major operators alongside ChargeNet including BP, Z, Meridian and Jolt.

In October 2024, the electricity generator and retailer Genesis took a major stake in Chargenet and their $64 million investment, together with the investment being made by other operators (and the NZ Government) should give current and future EV drivers the confidence to get on the road.