Last week the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) announced the 22 recipients of co-funding for projects approved under the final round of the Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund (LEVCF) in its present form, which will share $6.5 million of government co-funding, including co-funding for additional hyper-rapid (300kW) charging stations.
Of the 22 projects, ChargeNet has received co-funding for three hyper-rapid EV charger projects in the Waikato, Wellington, and Queenstown. Using one of the most innovative and cost-effective solutions on the market, ChargeNet will install two 300kW hyper-rapid EV chargers at each site, allowing charging for up to six EVs at the site simultaneously.
Each site can accommodate four CCS vehicles at up to 300kW and two CHAdeMO vehicles at up to 62kW. These sites provide drivers with the fastest publicly available chargers in New Zealand. Specific EV models can charge at the 300kW hyper-rapid chargers six times faster than on ChargeNet’s standard 50kW charging stations, enabling the newest generation of EVs to add up to 400km of charge in 15 minutes.
“Since the introduction of the Clean Car Standard and Clean Car Discount, we’ve already seen an increase in customer sign-ups and charging sessions. In establishing a hyper-rapid EV charging network, we are providing world-class charging speeds and directly addressing congestion from growing demand, long before it occurs.” Steve West, ChargeNet CEO & Co-founder.
The continued development of the hyper-rapid EV charging network by ChargeNet will see an additional 18 hyper-rapid EV chargers constructed along major driving routes from Kaiwaka to Queenstown over the next 18 months. Presently EV drivers will find the hyper-rapid charging stations at Bombay and Taupo, with ten additional sites in the pipeline – Kaiwaka, North Shore, Waikato, Tauranga, Rotorua, Bulls, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown, and Dunedin.
With the Government’s support, we are rolling out a world-class network of hyper-rapid charging stations, powered by 100% renewable energy. Projects such as these reduce household transport emissions and ultimately help New Zealand transition to a low carbon future.”
ChargeNet manages more than 256 publicly available rapid chargers, including four 300kW hyper-rapid chargers powered by 100% renewable energy. These chargers can add up to 400km of driving range in 15 minutes, as long as that vehicle is capable of charging at that speed (currently the Porsche Taycan is the fastest charging vehicle in New Zealand at 270kW).