A second round of loans
The National Infrastructure Funding and Financing agency (NIFFCo) opened a second round of zero-interest loans for public EV charging infrastructure on 8 August, releasing its request for proposals two days later. Around $21 million is available through an open procurement process, with charge point operators able to borrow up to 50% of eligible project capital costs at 0% interest over up to 12 years.
The offer targets the sequencing problem operators have described for years. “Concessionary loans lower the cost of capital and help overcome the challenge that charging infrastructure often needs to be built before demand is fully established,” Energy Minister Simeon Brown said.
Round one, announced in March, was substantially larger: $52.7 million in government loans over a 13-year term, matched by roughly $60 million from ChargeNet and Meridian Energy, for a programme worth more than $110 million. It is delivering 2,574 charge points — 1,374 DC fast chargers and 1,200 AC units — split roughly evenly between the six main centres and the regions. Structuring the support as loans rather than grants cuts the net cost to the Crown to about $10,000 per charger, against roughly $40,000 under a grant model.
The gap the money is aimed at
New Zealand has just over 1,800 public charge points, one of the lowest charger-to-EV ratios in the OECD. The target is 10,000 by 2030, about one charger for every 40 EVs. Round two targets operators beyond that first pair building portfolios of sites.
“We continue to hear concerns about access to public chargers, especially for longer journeys outside main centres,” Transport Minister Chris Bishop said.
The rules written in the background
An Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) consultation paper went out in July and submissions closed on 4 September. It proposed requirements for chargers rated above 2.4kW covering communication with electricity retailers, networks, and energy management systems; response to external signals; randomised delay and ramp-rate control, so large numbers of chargers cannot all switch on at once and spike local demand; plus data capture, overload protection, software updates, labelling, and compliance reporting.
The exemptions matter for anyone holding stock: the requirements would not apply to units already installed, to second-hand chargers, or to stock imported or manufactured here before the rules take effect.
Nothing is binding yet. The requirements take effect only once the Energy Efficiency and Conservation (Energy Flexibility and Regulatory Improvements) Amendment Bill passes, with the detailed rules developed alongside that process.
What it costs the trade
The Cabinet paper behind the proposal puts industry-wide compliance costs at $4.6 million over ten years against $23 million in benefits — a five-to-one return, or roughly $102 of net benefit per charger a year once network and generation savings are set against the cost of the smart function.
Smart chargers currently retail for $1,000 to $1,700, against $800 to $1,000 for a non-smart unit — a premium of a few hundred dollars. Officials expect that to narrow once the capability becomes standard, citing the UK’s experience with equivalent rules.
The extra cost buys grid capacity rather than a better charger. Electricity demand is projected to rise 80% by 2050, and unmanaged charging concentrates into the same morning and evening peaks the network already struggles with. “Electric vehicles represent one of New Zealand’s biggest opportunities to create a more flexible electricity system,” EECA Group Manager Policy and Regulations Murray Bell said.
Two levers, one target
The two processes land in different places for the trade. The loan round is a commercial opportunity for operators with sites and a pipeline, and work for the contractors who build them. The regulatory process is a supply-chain question — what can still be sold, what is exempt, and where the price of a compliant unit settles.
Neither is finished: round two bids are still being assessed, and the regulations await legislation, but both point to the same 2030 number — one paying for the hardware to go in the ground, the other setting what it must do once it is there.
