National plans to invest $257 million over four years to deliver 10,000 public EV chargers, nearly 10 times more than the current number.

(this works out at around $25,700 per unit, way cheaper than many other govts are paying. Queensland for example recently budgeted $10 million for 46 chargers, which is roughly $217,000 per unit)

However EV sales in NZ have plummeted from 4500 in December 23 to 352 in January 24. Asked about this at a presser two days ago Mr Luxon put it down to a rush to buy before the subsidy expired.

Roughly 6600 new ICE vehicles were registered in January in NZ, and the trend in many countries seems to be a drift away from EVs back to no hassle petrol and diesel vehicles.

News.com Australia reports that EV sales are falling in many parts of the globe.

They claim rising power prices in the UK have made it more expensive to fast charge an EV than to fill up a petrol or diesel vehicle.

Volkswagen has mothballed plans to build more battery factories as demand in Europe has slumped. US maker GM has also slashed its electric vehicle targets as buyers shun the vehicles for conventional powered cars.

Australian Chamber of Automotive Industries head Tony Weber says the latest January sales figures show Australia’s growing preference for big cars powered by petrol and diesel.

“Even with the current incentives offered by the govt, sales of EVs appear to have plateaued during recent months.”

Some people wish to own EV’s and of course they are free to make that choice. If an EV suits their purposes then fine. However when they say that choice is predicated on cheaper running costs or reducing CO2 emissions, they’re making a misjudgment.

High depreciation, high CO2 emissions during construction and charging the cars with conventional electricity sources make those factors marginal at best.

A number of claims Mr Luxon makes in the video above are unlikely to withstand scrutiny. Perhaps his optimism is a bit misplaced. Let’s hope those charging stations he plans to build with our money don’t turn out to be costly white elephants.

Govt picking winners? Doesn’t Mr Luxon know anything about market intervention?