Electric vehicles (EVs) will play a key role in decarbonising the transport sector, which accounts for around half of New Zealand's energy-related emissions. Ensuring that New Zealand has a public charging network to support the growth in EVs is an important part of the Government’s ongoing work to support this.

EECA commissioned this survey to better understand the charging habits of private light passenger EV owners, and to gain insights into the use of public EV charging. The results of the survey are intended to provide research and insights for both industry and government into EV charging infrastructure.

Key findings:

• 78% of owners of older EVs ('EV’s 2018 or older') are unlikely to drive them on certain trips such as those that require longer distances to travel (e.g. range), compared to 42% of newer EV owners.
• 82% of people most commonly charge at home.
• 86% of respondents plan and know in advance which public charge stations they will use.
• The most common reason stated for not using a public charge was having to queue or wait for a charger. This response was given by 41% of respondents.