EV sales reach new highs

The number of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles on the roads swelled 8.4 per cent, or 276 vehicles, to 3,576 in the month of May, according to the latest Ministry of Transport fleet statistics. The growth of EV/PHEV uptake also continues to increase – in April, the fleet grew 5.7 per cent, and in March, month-on-month growth was 6.9 per cent. Year-on-year, the EV/PHEV fleet rose 156.3 per cent in May. As a percentage of registrations, EVs reached an all-time high of 1.09 per cent in May, up from 1.01 per cent in April, when it crossed one per cent for the first time. EVs now account for 0.81 per cent of all light vehicle registrations in New Zealand. Used pure electric vehicles continue to be the most popular EV option, with 161 new vehicles registered in May. This was followed by new pre electric, with 68 new vehicles, new plug-in hybrid, up 37 units, and finally used plug-in hybrid, with 13 new registrations. Sales of the used Nissan Leaf in the second quarter of 2017 looks set to beat the first-quarter total of 299, with 256 vehicles registered in April and May. This was followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, with 45 registrations, and Tesla, with 34 registrations. Registrations were once again concentrated in Auckland, which had 145 of the 279 new registrations, followed by Canterbury, with 49 registrations, and Wellington with 35 registrations. Conventional hybrid registrations, which aren’t counted in the 3,756-strong electric fleet, were up again in March following a decline in April, with 452 used and 91 new conventional hybrids registered.