National ignoring the power of the market when it comes to EV infrastructure

National ignoring the power of the market when it comes to EV infrastructure

Responding to the National Party’s policy announcement to spend $247 million of taxpayer money to fund charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Callum Purves, said:

“The National Party needs to realise that more Government doesn’t always have to be the answer. Around the world, we are seeing many successful rollouts of EV charging infrastructure that is completely privately funded. With EVs being much cheaper to run and forecasts for the carbon price to increase, there are already market forces at play that will drive private investment in EV charging infrastructure if the Government simply gets out of the way.

“Removing the need to consent EV chargers is a good start and if the next Government wants more chargers they should sit down with some of the major industry players and work out what other regulatory hurdles can be removed to promote more investment.

“This announcement has nothing to do with carbon emissions which are already capped under the Emissions Trading Scheme. National seems to recognise this when it comes to scrapping the ute tax and Tesla subsidy but seems to forget it with other climate policies when it is politically convenient. Sensible policies that make it easier for people to reduce their carbon footprint to avoid ETS charges make sense but when the policy is simply more taxpayer funding, New Zealanders end up paying anyway through their taxes and end up no better off.

“If this is simple John Key-era corporate welfare for the companies who are making a coin anyway on EV charger networks, it a loss to taxpayers - in particular those who can only dream of affording an electric car.”