Source: Radio New Zealand
If more Kiwis make the switch to an EV, could the electricity network handle the extra demand? ABC News / Brendan Esposito
With interest in electric vehicles increasing due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, questions have been raised over the reliability of New Zealand’s power grid, should there be an influx of EVs plugging in.
Petrol prices have risen past $3 per litre, and EV dealers told RNZ’s Morning Report they’ve seen a spike in sales since the Middle East conflict started to hit fuel prices.
But, if more Kiwis do make the switch, could the electricity network handle the extra demand from charging at peak times?
Drive Electric, an organisation established to advocate for cleaner transport options in New Zealand says even under the most extreme predictions of EV uptake, there’s no risk of the country running out of power.
Kirsten Corson, the chair of Drive Electric told Morning Report if all cars in New Zealand went electric, there would only be an increase of 20 percent in demand for electricity.
Corson says most people charge their cars overnight during off-peak hours, so are paying around $3 per 100 kilometres.
On top of the savings that can be made, Corson says smart charging set ups can often earn money with cars essentially becoming “batteries on wheels,” by allowing EVs to feed electricity back into the grid.
“Potentially, a car could put $2000 worth of value back into the electricity system. If you’re looking at something like a truck it was around $10,000 and a milk tanker was around $25,000 of value it could put back into the grid.”
Despite that, New Zealand has dropped behind other counties in the EV field.
“Embarassingly so, we’ve gone from a leader to a lagger. Over the last ten years we’ve seen around one in 10 new car sales are electric, compared to globally where one in four car sales are electric.
“The Australians are even ahead of us with one in five new car sales being electric, so we’re really behind the eight-ball. And, in China, one in two car sales are electric,” Corson said.
Corson says the government’s decision to drop incentives for EV purchases is concerning .
“We obviously want to see energy independence in this country, which we currently don’t have.” she said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
