My Account
National and Labour are both promoting ways to encourage more Kiwis to move to electric vehicles (EVs), but differ over which incentives will be most effective.
National is pledging to invest $257 million over four years to increase the number of EV public charging points across the country to 10,000, while also signalling the scrapping of the clean car discount, arguing that people who can afford brand-new EVs don’t need to be subsidised by taxpayers.
The investment pledge compares to the Labour government’s 2023 budget announcement of $120 million for charging point infrastructure over four years.
New Zealand currently has around 1200 public charging points. National argues that a shortage of charging stations places limits on long-distance travel plans, and that prevents more New Zealanders from buying EVs. It’s also promising to eliminate the need for resource consents for charging points, to speed up the process and reduce upfront costs.
“Around 20 per cent of New Zealand’s total [greenhouse gas] emissions come from transport, so embracing EVs is crucial to delivering our climate change commitments,” National leader Christopher Luxon said this month. “However, Kiwis won’t switch to an EV if they are anxious about whether they will be able to recharge it when and where they need to.”
New Zealand is falling behind other countries in this area. The International Energy Agency reported that New Zealand had one charging point for every 57 EVs in 2021, the worst showing of 30 major countries. By comparison, the UK and Australia had one charging point for every 21 EVs, for the US it was 18, for China seven, and for South Korea just 2.6. The world average in 2021 was one charging point for every 9 EVs.
Labour contends that the high cost of EVs is the major disincentive, hence its support for clean car discount initiatives.
“The real thing is this: cost is a barrier for people to enter the market in terms of obtaining EVs,” Labour MP Tangi Utikere told One News on September 7. “What we’ve seen is that the clean car discount has really provided the opportunity for folk to enter the market.”
Another key peg of National’s policy is to end what it calls the “ute tax” – fees charged on higher-emitting vehicles – which it calls “unnecessary, expensive and fiscally unsustainable”.
“The reality is the scheme the government’s put in place taxes people who don’t have a choice – farmers and tradies – and gives massive subsidies to people who can already afford these vehicles,” National’s transport spokesperson Simeon Brown said on the same programme.
Brown predicted that EV prices would come down as scale of production increases, and said the role of government was to roll out the infrastructure.
For EV advocacy groups, both the boost to charging points and the clean car discount are important policies.
Drive Electric, which calls itself the country’s leading apolitical, not-for-profit organisation focused on promoting the uptake of EVs, the roll-out of public charging infrastructure is “currently the number one priority for members”.
At the same time, it says its membership supports the clean car discount, because it is a policy that has demonstrated to significantly lift EV uptake.
“It is also reducing emissions. Since June 2021, the average emissions of newly registered vehicles in New Zealand have dropped 21 per cent.”
