Mar 21, 2025
Rewiring Aotearoa
Electric Avenue: 21st March

More exciting news about big batteries with free wheels (aka electric vehicles) from Australia; BYD's breakthrough sees EVs charging up in about the same time as it takes to fill a petrol car; boat charging comes to Queenstown; New Zealand's solar record (and the world's insatiable desire to run on the sun); and Bluecurrent and Meridian partner up to reward customers who hand over control of their hot water.

Hot wheels

Big batteries with free wheels (aka electric vehicles that could eventually power your home V2H, or feed into the grid, V2G) are an exciting new area when it comes to distributed energy resources. 

It’s all still pretty fresh and regulators and industry players are treading carefully, but ARENA has launched an extensive V2G roadmap in Australia that is worth a read.  

“Our vision is that V2G will put downward pressure on energy bills for Australian households, create opportunity for local industries and help our community meet our electricity and transport sector emissions reduction targets. The value gained from bidirectional charging will further accelerate EV adoption. Australia will have 300,000 V2G capable EVs by 2030. We will achieve this future by removing barriers to market entry and by ensuring that tariffs and incentives enable consumers to access fair value of their investments.”

The range of cars that can be used with V2G already is quite extensive. 

A trial in the UK showed that the economic signals of bidirectional charging changed behaviour, with 75% of customers plugging in after every trip rather than once or twice a week. 

“Participation in the trial also alleviated the majority of the initial concerns participants had about bidirectional charging, and after participating many reported that it was important that their next vehicle had bidirectional capability.”

This looming technology shift makes it even more important for the Electricity Authority to get the settings right in its consultation on empowering customers. With many vehicles able to export at peak times or plug in to power the home at times of high demand on the grid, that will make EVs even more of an economic slam dunk.  

Speed is of the essence

Even though most EV charging happens happily at home (and, in many cases, quite slowly on a standard plug), the time it takes to charge up when you’re out and about is definitely a barrier to uptake. Things have been improving on that front, with newer fast chargers and cars capable of charging more quickly speeding things up, but BYD has taken it to another level, with a new system that can charge a car in about the same time it takes to fill up with petrol. 

Its 1,000 kW charging tech (twice as fast as Tesla’s fastest option set to roll out this year) allows cars to add around 400km of range in five minutes and it is planning to build over 4,000 super fast charging stations across China. 

This charging speed will create pressure on the grid, but the plan is to include energy storage at these stations to help with that (in a similar but more advanced fashion to the old Leaf batteries put in at a charging station by Counties Energy). 

According to Quartz: “Global sales of EVs surged last month to 1.2 million units, a 50% year-over-year jump, according to data compiled by Rho Motion. Roughly a quarter of those sales occurred in China.”

Hydro power

The Herald reports that the Queenstown Marina is the first place in New Zealand to get publicly accessible electric marine-side chargers, with EECA funding part of the Electric Wave install and local Rod Drury pitching in as well.

While there aren't any electric boats on the lake yet, company director Anna Groot says it's taking the 'build it and they shall come' policy that Chargenet also took on our roads. Drury has said he is keen to invest in an electric wakeboarding boat (and we have also heard a few whispers of an electric ferry network on Lake Wakatipu).

The Electric Wave chargers at the Queenstown Marina on Lake Wakatipu.

“The Queenstown Marina can act as an R&D hub for the many e-marine projects in development here in New Zealand, and encourage and enable developers to test their prototypes in the best setting in the world, inspiring other coastal and lakeside communities to embrace clean energy solutions and protect our precious waterways,” Drury told the Herald.

Aurora and Meridian also helped bring the project to life.

Everybody loves the sunshine

We’re all about running on the sun at Rewiring: it’s the cheapest electricity New Zealanders can get, it can provide more of the electricity we need, it can help keep water in the lakes and it can be used to replace fossil fuels, especially for transport. And, as the EA pointed out, New Zealand’s solar generation reached an all-time high of 128MW on March 6th this year. 

“This record will likely be beaten when three new large-scale solar farms that will feed into the national grid come online later this year … Another milestone was reached in December 2024 when electricity demand was low and, for the first time, more electricity was generated from solar than from thermal generation.”

There is still a bias towards bigness in the electricity system and while it’s good to see New Zealand following international trends with this generation from solar farms, it’s important to remember that generation is only around half the price that customers pay for their electricity. 

Adoption is also increasing at a smaller level. “Solar generation isn’t just for the big players. As of December 2024, the capacity of residential, commercial and small business solar generation was estimated at 408MW.” 

As new solar enthusiast Gavin Shoebridge told Stuff, he now looks forward to getting a power bill.

Globally, according to the Climate Council, “it took 68 years to reach the first terawatt of solar power—then just two years to hit the second. To put that into context, 2TW is equal to the whole power capacity of India, the US, and the UK combined, and enough to power 1 billion households worldwide! No other energy-producing technology has grown this quickly.” 

Manage what you measure

While New Zealand was an early adopter of ripple control, which can switch off hot water cylinders if there is pressure on the grid, it is a blunt instrument. New tech is improving that and smart metering company Bluecurrent has signed up Meridian as the first customer for its Dynamic Load Control service, which allows it to “dynamically shift its customers electricity use by managing their hot water heating load”.

While some more engaged customers may set timers and change their consumption to benefit from time of use plans or solar generation, smart meters allow retailers and lines companies to get more visibility over electricity use and then make decisions that can reduce load (and save them money). 

While many New Zealanders were asked to reduce consumption last year out of the goodness of their hearts, this scheme (and some others) rewards customers for agreeing to give up some control. 

It will be powered by 20,000 Bluecurrent smart meters in the first year and customers will receive $120 a year.

"Having the flexibility to remotely turn on and off something as simple as hot water heating means New Zealanders will use less carbon intensive fuels, like coal and gas, because electricity demand becomes smoothed out and peaks of demand aren't as extreme,” says Bluecurrent’s Matt Bostwick. 

Meridian’s Lisa Hannifin says hot water cylinders are like a battery – “they have lots of energy stored inside them that can be used over a long period of time, before needing to be topped up again. It just makes sense to do that topping up when prices are lower.” 

Water heating accounts for around 30% of a home’s energy use (or 15% if you include your car) and it makes even more sense to heat water with solar during the day. 

As this Washington Post article explains, giving energy companies more control over customers’ machines - whether it’s for hot water or, in this case, air conditioning - is becoming increasingly common and, in most cases, it is something that customers don’t even know is happening. Win-win!

Read moreDownload the document here

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