Levi Gibbs

Published: May 11, 2023

Submitting To: Ministry of Transport (MoT)

Issue for Business: The paper outlines a system-wide vision and five proposed long-term outcomes to support the rollout of charging infrastructure in New Zealand. In response to the paper, BEC outlines some of the barriers and challenges public charger providers and electricity distribution businesses (EDBs) face, and are likely to face, as the uptake of electric vehicles accelerates. BEC supports a strategy for EV charging infrastructure. BEC recommends removing or alleviating these barriers should be the focus of the strategy, enabling businesses and investors to roll-out EV charging infrastructure without large regulatory, process and cost constraints standing in the way. BEC believes this interagency group should partner with the private sector by identifying problems and barriers, and doesn't prefer other options tabled, like the formation of a new agency and entity. BEC believes the heavy lifting will be provided by market players, and the Government has limited role in public EV charging provision in the early stages if market failures arise. But any analysis of determining a market failure must be rigorous, and rightly identify areas where chargers are needed. BEC questions the need for targets, considering the relatively arbitrary nature of targets and wider regulatory interventions, like compulsory EV charging in new builds. BEC recommends application processes can be streamlined across NZ's 29 EDBs. The processes vary in time and cost. BEC's submission outlines the cost of connecting a charger to the grid, which can vary, but is a large barrier. A new connection can substantial increase the cost of connecting, and weaken the commerciality of installing an public EV charger. However, EDBs need the revenue to fund their increase in capital expenditure. Undoubtedly, the issue of reducing reducing cost inevitably turns to who pays?