Cash boost for EV chargers and green trucks

Plans to install more electric-vehicle (EV) chargers and trials of hydrogen and electric trucks will go ahead after securing a chunk of $3.7 million being handed out by the government.

The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) has announced support for 22 transport projects in round nine of the Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund.

Other ventures to secure co-funding include a community electric car and bike share scheme in Christchurch. 

Dr Megan Woods, Minister for Energy and Resources, revealed who would be receiving money from the latest round of funding on February 10. The successful applicants are set to contribute $9.4m of their own money to make the various projects happen.

“The Climate Change Commission’s recently-released draft report rightly points out how crucial reducing transport emissions is to meeting our climate change goals,” says Woods, pictured. 

“It shows we are on the right track by supporting the uptake of cleaner technologies.

“Demonstrating and proving the potential for electric and hydrogen heavy vehicles is important, as heavy freight has an outsized impact on transport emissions.”

She adds the latest cash for 11 public chargers, many with multiple charging ports, means the fund has helped deliver more than 600 public EV chargers, of which more than 450 are operational.

“The growing charging network should give New Zealand households and businesses thinking of purchasing EVs the confidence to do so, in the knowledge the infrastructure is increasingly available, thanks in large part to the fund,” explains Woods.

EECA has committed $29.4m in government funding to 180 projects, matched by $62m in applicant funding, since the fund began in January 2017. Round 10 will open in March or April 2021.

Successful applicants

Charging infrastructure

1. ChargeNet NZ, $263,775: The company will install four public 300kW charging ports and two 50kW charging ports in Rotorua’s central business district. 

2. ChargeNet NZ, $266,275: Four 300kW and two 50kW charging ports are to be installed in Tauranga. 

3. ChargeNet NZ, $134,438: Dunedin is getting two 300kW charging ports and one 50kW charging port in its central business district. 

4. ChargeNet NZ, $41,500: The company will install a public 50kW DC fast electric vehicle charger at Tamahere to fill a “critical” gap in the network. 

5. HealthPost Limited, $26,000: Installation of a 25kW charger at HealthPost’s business site in Collingwood, Golden Bay.

6. Network Waitaki, $43,500: A public 50kW fast-charging station is to be installed in Oamaru’s harbour area. 

7. Fonterra Co-operative Group, $82,000: The company will install 26 EV slow chargers at four manufacturing sites in the South Island to help staff, visitors and company vehicles switch to electric vehicles. Two of the sites will be at Fonterra’s cost and EECA will co-fund the other two. 

Secure e-bike storage facilities 

8. Otautahi Community Housing Trust, $44,500: The trust will deliver a subsidised e-bike share scheme comprising five e-bikes free of charge for the community and parking for 20 e-bikes using Locky Docks at its largest community housing development in Christchurch. 

9. MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology), $57,000: Secure scooter and bike docking stations are being put into place at the museum’s Western Springs sites. 

Heavy electric vehicles 

10. GreenCycle, $89,200: A diesel truck and diesel chipper is being replaced with an electric Hiab and tipper truck for the green waste recycling business in Auckland. 

11. Dempsey Wood Civil, $222,000: The funds will purchase a heavy electric vehicle (HEV) as a pilot to be fitted with an attenuator for a traffic safety vehicle. A rapid-charging station will be installed at the Mount Wellington depot to support the project and to provide public charging. 

12. Fuso NZ, $242,519: The company will purchase and fit out a 100 per cent electric 7.5-tonne Fuso eCanter truck for extended-test drives by potential customers through its dealers. 

13. Fuso NZ, $499,500: The business is teaming up with major transport companies to run a one-year e-truck trial using five Fuso eCanter trucks and chargers in the proposed Auckland Transport Queen Street Valley Zero Emissions Area (ZEA). The project will inform future policy development for implementing the ZEA for urban freight, and high visibility. 

14. Hyundai Motors NZ, $500,000: The company will purchase and deploy an initial fleet of five zero-emissions fuel cell electric trucks for daily logistics operation trials. 

Technology 

15. Counties Power, $112,000: The company will install a 240kWh second-life EV battery system together with two high-power EV chargers at Mercer, beside the Waikato Expressway.

16. Counties Power, $32,000: Smart vehicle-to-grid technology integrated with solar generation and load balancing capability will be showcased in a project being run by the company. The scheme will comprise of a Nissan Leaf and charger powered by solar, and aims to increase EV use. 

17. EVisi Group, $34,800: The company will develop and test optimisation algorithms to optimise fleet EV charger operations to minimise local network peak demand charges and extend battery life. 

Car share 

18. Otautahi Community Housing Trust, $44,038: The trust will deliver a subsidised EV share scheme with two Nissan Leafs at its largest community housing development in Christchurch. 
Fleet management 

19. Carbn Asset Management, $302,000: The funding will deliver 20 low-cost baseline fleet assessments to businesses and local government to help them plan and manage their fleet transition to EVs. 

20. Optimal Fleet Solutions, $107,000: The company will develop a digital dashboard to provide data and insights to help local government, organisations and businesses to manage fleet assets in real time to further identify opportunities to increase utilisation, optimise and electrify their fleets. 

21. Optimal Fleet Solutions, $499,000: Fleet audits and studies on local government, businesses and organisations of all fleet compositions will be performed to identify opportunities for optimisation and electrification of their fleets with decarbonisation road mapping and replacement plans. 

22. LeasePlan NZ, $58,328: The company will offer selected clients a leased charging solution – including home charging, office charging, and fobs to access public charging networks – all linked under one platform, as well as telematics analysis.