The Government has announced an investment in more low emission vehicle options for New Zealand, including installing more electric vehicle chargers.
Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods said on Wednesday they had co-founded another 11 public chargers, many of which are high capacity fast chargers with multiple charging ports.
It will mean there is at least one public EV charger every 75km on most of New Zealand's highways.
A map of the chargers shows that Auckland, by far, has the most (public and private) with 136. Of which, 111 are already installed and 25 are in progress.
They are followed by the Waikato which has 89 chargers, Wellington has 76 and Canterbury 72. The West Coast currently has the least chargers (13).
The investment is one of 22 new low-emission transport projects planned by the Government, including a community electric bike and car share scheme, hydrogen trucks and a demonstration electric truck.
The Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund (LEVCF) will contribute $3.7 million to the projects, while the recipients are set to add $9.4 million.
"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," Woods said.
The announcement comes just over a week after the Climate Change Commission released its first report.
One of its recommendations was New Zealand should invest more in electric vehicles.
It proposes phasing out the imports of petrol vehicles, which would see 40 percent of the light fleet electric by 2035.
"The Climate Change Commission’s recently-released draft report rightly points out how crucial reducing transport emissions is to meeting our climate change goals," Woods said. "It shows we are on the right track by supporting the uptake of cleaner technologies."
