The second round is aimed at charge point operators planning portfolios of public charging sites across New Zealand. National Infrastructure Funding and Financing (NIFFCo), a government-owned infrastructure financing agency, will award the loans through an open procurement process.
The programme offers financing for up to 50 per cent of eligible project capital costs at zero interest, with a maximum term of twelve years. The latest NZ$21 million funding round follows the first round announced in March. Those loans are supporting charging operator ChargeNet and energy company Meridian Energy in deploying 2,574 new public charge points. According to the government, these projects will more than double New Zealand’s existing public charging network.
“Round one demonstrated strong market demand for the programme and showed concessionary loans can successfully unlock significant private sector investment,” said Transport Minister Chris Bishop.
The government ultimately wants 10,000 public charge points in operation by 2030, equivalent to roughly one charger for every 40 electric vehicles. Before the current charging programme began, New Zealand had just over 1,800 public charge points, which the government says represented one of the lowest charger-to-EV ratios among OECD countries.
