Annex – International approaches to regulating EV charging
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Australia
The international energy efficiency arrangement[1] between the New Zealand and Australian governments means that New Zealand should endeavour to coordinate with the Australian government on EV charging regulation under the joint Equipment Energy Efficiency (E3)[2] programme.
In many cases, there are administrative, business and consumer benefits in regulating the same product consistently across the Tasman, including for the trade implications of compliance with the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act 1997 (TTMRA).[3]
Australia has yet to introduce regulation for smart charging at the federal level, taking more of a policy focus on broader low emission energy initiatives such as widespread rollout of rooftop solar instead. However, South Australia has introduced mandatory standards to promote safety, enable demand flexibility capability, and encourage EV charging to be shifted away from peak demand periods.
Other markets
Great Britain
The UK Government has legislated that all new home and workplace EV chargers sold in Great Britain must be smart (from June 2022).[4] Prior to this, smart EV charger uptake was facilitated by a government EV Homecharge Scheme that ended in March 2022.
To avoid network issues, the regulations require smart chargers to be set to charge off-peak by default, but this can be overridden by the owner. Chargers also need to apply a random delay of up to 10 minutes at the start or end of a schedule, or after a power/communication interruption.
The regulations have led to an increase in off-peak charging. However, only a small proportion of EV drivers were using dynamic ToU tariffs. A lack of availability and usage of ToU tariffs is a key barrier to off-peak charging.
European Union
In September 2023, the EU passed legislation requiring that all new or newly renovated, publicly accessible EV recharging points in EU Member States should be capable of ’smart’ charging within the near future. The EU has also set relatively more targeted rules for non-residential and residential building settings that EU Member States are obliged to transpose into domestic legislation in slower time.
The Netherlands is currently only recommending that EV charging units (public and private) have smart charging by default and interoperability capability. It has set a target of at least 60 percent of charging sessions to be smart by 2026 and an action plan[5] to achieve this goal.
Germany has no plans to regulate smart chargers further than the general EU regulation outlined above. Its current policy is that EV owners should be able to decide if there is sufficient financial incentive to install a smart EV charger. Germany allows grid operators to reduce output of controllable energy consuming assets including EV chargers to a minimum of 2kW in emergency peak situations. In return for registering their assets, consumers receive reduced grid fees/electricity charges.
China
China is the world’s largest market for EVs and EV charging infrastructure development, with 9.92 million EV chargers (public and private) servicing the world’s largest EV fleet (24.42 million). China has uneven development of public charging in urban and rural areas, so it is focusing its EV charging infrastructure plan on smart charging in rural areas. It has not required smart functionality.
China has a target of 60 percent of EV charging to occur off-peak by 2025. China’s most recent policy guidelines include implementing a differential ‘peak and valley’ ToU pricing mechanism with innovative tariff options tailored to local conditions of different regions. China’s peak times are similar to New Zealand (between 6pm and 11pm) and overlap with residential electricity usage. One of the innovative tariff options has a seasonal dimension of wet and dry for regions with large amount of hydroelectric generation.
Cybersecurity standards
Cybersecurity is a priority issue for all five economies, however only Great Britain has legislative cybersecurity requirement for EV chargers (since December 2022).[6]
In China, consumer demand for more protection is driving private companies to take the lead in ensuring their operations meet industry or international information security standards – albeit while also complying with Chinese government data regulations.
Footnotes
[1] Australia-New Zealand Policy Framework and Funding Arrangement for the Equipment Energy Efficiency Program dated 19 December 2017 between the Commonwealth of Australia and the New Zealand Government/Kāwanatanga o Aotearoa.
[2] Equipment Energy Efficiency (E3) Programme(external link) — Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority
[3] Under the TTMRA, where both Australia and New Zealand regulate the same product differently, each jurisdiction must treat imports of the regulated product from the other jurisdiction as compliant with their domestic laws. However, when only Australia or NZ chooses to regulate a particular product, imports of that product must meet that jurisdiction’s regulations. New Zealand, like South Australia, could therefore regulate the sale of EV chargers unilaterally and enforce its regulations on imports from Australia.
[4] Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021 (UK).
[5] ‘Smart Charging for Everyone’ action program.
[6] Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021 (UK).