The Insider: Encouraging Kiwis into EVs risks becoming a pipe dream unless fast action is taken, says CEO of Jaguar Land Rover NZ

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Encouraging Kiwis into electric and hybrid vehicles risks becoming a pipe dream, unless fast and collective action is taken, says Steve Kenchington, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover New Zealand.

New Zealand has some of the most ambitious climate goals in the world. The automotive and transportation industries have a large responsibility to reach these targets, set out by the government, and collectively we have a long way to go turn this goal into a reality.

It was recently reported that even New Zealand government agencies are struggling with its own demands to decarbonise its fleet and to only purchase hybrids or electric vehicles going forward.

For New Zealand to reach net zero carbon by 2050, it’s predicted that 100% of cars entering the country from 2030 would need to be electric or PHEV variations – which is an enormous jump from the 3% of vehicles of imported cars that were electric in 2019. That’s an incredibly tough goal for us to reach – and for all of us to be successful, we’re going to need a collaborative approach from the government, automotive industry and the public.

In last week’s issue we discussed the mindset shift in New Zealand as more Kiwis purchase PHEVs, but that hesitancy in owning a fully electric vehicle is still prominent.

Speaking from an automotive brand in New Zealand, I can empathise with those people who aren’t ready to commit to an entirely new lifestyle of owning an EV, when the local infrastructure isn’t at a sufficient standard – which is why the vast array of PHEV models could be a useful bridge between combustion engines and electric.

The government is currently offering huge incentives to the public – such as the rebates – which is a brilliant motivator to make the shift to electric, but New Zealand’s energy infrastructure also needs to be improved to handle a large increase in the number of EVs on the roads in its current state.

Energy providers are helping to soften this blow, however. Our energy providers are world-leading, with an increasing commitment to solar, hydro, wind and geothermal solutions. Yet, the amount of power generated into the national grid is finite – and when we have too much demand on our national allocation, energy companies are forced to fire up climate-polluting solutions such as coal plants.

That’s why so many energy providers are launching power plans that encourage energy consumption outside of key usage powers – such as the 5pm to 9pm rush when everyone is cooking dinner, watching television and heating the house. Mercury is one of many providers who has just launched an EV plan, which gives cheaper power after 9pm encouraging cars to be charged later at night – this saves people money in their back pocket, but doesn’t negatively impact national energy consumption. I’d be interested to know how else the industry plans to improve, what they expect will happen to the grid as more and more EVs hit our roads, and what other providers will be offering customers in order to cope with the increase in usage.

New Zealand has begun to roll out public charging stations around the country, but we need to accelerate this to ensure EV owners have a constant supply of electricity. Again, PHEV variations (which use a mixture of combustion and electricity) are a good option if public charging stations aren’t fully available in your area.

One of the easiest solutions to help solve this problem is to legislate mandatory charging stations in new builds – especially apartments or high-density housing. EV charging facilities should be incorporated into every new building with no exceptions.

While a mandate needs to be made, this also needs to be supported by a minimum standard supply for charging at home. If owners need to fully charge their vehicle within 4-5 hours, their home will require a minimum 7kw supply, which is higher than the current household rate.

Installing 7kw chargers can cost between $3-5k, which I believe could easily be built into the cost of a residential new build.

Legislating at-home charging stations has been a smart move from the likes of the United Kingdom, which helps mix public and private partnerships to ensure they encourage more, sustainable, uptake of electric vehicles.

But the United Kingdom also has one major advantage over New Zealand – and that’s the fact they produce their own vehicles.

Going one step further would be to introduce smart chargers, which would help EV ownership in the long term.

As more and more EVs are sold, at some point the off-peak charging rates will cause a secondary peak because people will start charging their vehicles after the evening rush.

Smart EV chargers can allow electricity companies to dial down or turn off completely (with customers’ permission) the charging of a vehicle, therefore relieving the pressure off the grid.

In the not-too-distant future, we can also expect to see EVs being able to feedback to the grid, via what’s known in the industry as the ‘smart grid’. The smart grid will know what percentage your car battery is, and when you want to use it next. This will enable electricity companies to use your EV’s power intuitively while you don’t need it and ensure it is fully charged and ready for when you do.

To me, that’s the future – so let’s collectively move in that direction.

By 2026 the New Zealand government wants lower-emitting vehicles than Europe, however, given we are a much smaller market and don’t manufacture vehicles here, most brands are led by policies set by other governments around the world, not ours.

Thankfully, for Jaguar Land Rover, a fierce focus on electrification is seeing a strong pipeline of models rolling out – and a particular focus on PHEV vehicles in the short-term.

PHEV includes a mixture of combustion and electricity in the vehicles, and reimagines some of our most popular models such as Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Velar, Land Rover Defender and the Jaguar F-PACE.

It’s a good start, but we need more global distributors to make more models that adhere to government guidelines, and give Kiwi consumers more of a choice when they’re looking to make the move to electric.

I fully believe that we can successfully transition Kiwi consumers into EVs or PHEVs, but we need to collectively work to overcome these barriers.

We need to improve our energy infrastructure and consumption plans; we need to install more charging points and legislate for chargers in housing; we need to continue offering government rebates and incentives; and we need to think carefully about global product supply that is specific for our market.

We all know we have one planet, and Jaguar Land Rover is fully committed to making an electric future a reality – it is a smarter, greener future where all New Zealanders can thrive. We’re one of the world’s leading automotive groups, and have a considered and diligent plan to make this a reality… I just hope that it’s a collective effort from a range of industry, government and organisations.

Because collectively we can succeed, but individually, that pipe-dream risks becoming an unobtainable goal.