Transport Minister Chris Bishop has a refreshingly honest diagnosis of the EV charging problem. “The private sector are reluctant to invest in charging infrastructure until there’s sufficient demand, but demand for charging won’t grow until the purchase of EVs stops being hampered by a lack of public charging,” he said. What he did not say, but the numbers make obvious, is that nearly a decade of government grants failed to fix this, and the new approach is an admission that the market will not build essential infrastructure on its own timetable.
The programme commits $52.7 million in zero-interest loans to ChargeNet and Meridian Energy, who are co-investing a further $60 million. The combined $112.7 million will fund 2,574 new public charge points, roughly doubling the existing network to around 4,550.
One charger for every 84 EVs is not a network
New Zealand currently has around 1,378 public charge points, serving a fleet where EVs make up just over 2 percent of light vehicles. That ratio of one charger per 84 EVs places the country among the lowest in the OECD. EECA research cited by Drive Electric shows less than half of EV drivers agree there are enough public chargers nationwide, and that lack of chargers, queuing, and inconvenient locations remain key barriers to adoption.
Waka Kotahi set a vision back in April 2017 for DC fast charging stations every 75 kilometres along state highways. Eight years later, the network remains woefully short of that benchmark.
Loans are cheaper than grants but they are still state capital
The government is framing the shift from grants to concessionary loans as a sign of market maturity. Loans carry zero percent interest with principal repaid over 13 years, and the net cost to the Crown works out at roughly $10,000 per charger, about a quarter of what a direct grant would cost. The total concessionary loan pool is around $68.5 million, administered by National Infrastructure Funding and Financing, the same entity that ran the Ultra-Fast Broadband rollout.
The UFB comparison is telling. That programme succeeded because demand was clear, the technology was settled, and the commercial endpoint was well defined. EV charging is messier. Charging technology is still evolving, the geographic spread of demand is harder to predict, and the fleet mix of passenger, commercial, and heavy vehicles creates multiple infrastructure layers that this programme does not fully address.
Bishop himself concedes the old model ran out of runway. “This model is now outdated, with EVs now making up over 2% of the light vehicle fleet, and expected to make up around 11% by 2030,” he said. Cheaper financing is sensible. But calling it market-led when the interest rate is zero and the government is picking the recipients stretches the definition.
The demand hole the government dug itself
There is a structural tension the government has not reconciled. The coalition scrapped the clean car discount on taking office. Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds argues that EV purchases collapsed from around 22,000 to just 6,000 after the subsidy was removed. Fewer EVs on the road weakens the commercial case for private charger investment, which is exactly the chicken-and-egg dynamic the loans are supposed to break.
So the government killed the demand-side incentive, watched sales crater, and is now using supply-side loans to stimulate a market it partially deflated. That is not necessarily wrong. The clean car discount was expensive and poorly targeted. But pretending that concessionary loans are the market working is a stretch when the market’s potential customers were discouraged by policy.
4,550 chargers is not 10,000
During the 2023 election, National promised 10,000 public EV chargers by 2030 under a $257 million pledge. The current programme would deliver roughly 4,550. That leaves 5,450 chargers still needing funding, construction, and grid connection in less than five years. The government’s own target of one charger per 40 EVs requires hitting 10,000 by 2030, and there is no announced plan for the second half.
ChargeNet CEO Danusia Wypych is supportive but clear-eyed about the scale. “New Zealand has the lowest ratio of public EV chargers per EV in the OECD and we must turn that around if we are to realise the massive economic benefits of electrification,” she said.
What fleet operators should be planning for
For businesses running vehicle fleets, the 2030 horizon matters now. EVs are expected to make up around 11 percent of the light vehicle fleet within five years. Companies transitioning commercial vehicles need confidence the public network will be there when their drivers need it, and a ratio of one charger per 84 EVs is not that network.
The loans programme is a pragmatic half-step from a government that is philosophically uncomfortable with industrial policy but practically unable to avoid it. Whether the remaining 5,450 chargers materialise depends on decisions ministers have not yet made, funded, or even discussed publicly. The market had nine years to build this infrastructure. It did not. The question now is whether zero-interest money will succeed where grants failed, or whether the government will be back in two years with another tranche and another explanation for why private capital still needs a push.
Sources
- RNZ: $50m plan to double the number of public EV chargers (2025-04-28)
- Scoop: Accelerating The Roll-Out Of Public EV Chargers (2025-04-28)
- Scoop: EV infrastructure co-funding model welcomed – ChargeNet (2025-04-28)
- EVs and Beyond: Govt revamps EV charger co-investment model (2025-04-28)
- Newsroom: Govt looks to market to reach 10,000 EV charger goal (2025-03-10)
- Drive Electric: Response to ENA Journey Charging report
- RNZ: Government not acting quick enough in face of rising fuel prices – Labour (2025-04-24)
- National Infrastructure Funding and Financing: EV Charging Infrastructure Loans programme