Electric vehicle fleet tops 30,000
The number of new and used electric vehicles (EVs) in New Zealand has passed 30,000 following 671 new registrations last month.
The fleet totalled 30,517 at the end of August and it has grown by 6,411 units, or 26.6 per cent, since the start of the year, according to the Ministry of Transport.
At the end of the 2020 the number, which includes battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and heavy EVs, was 24,106.
All the EV registrations in August were for light vehicles and the month looked set to break four figures until the whole of New Zealand was put into a Covid-19 lockdown for two weeks, effectively bringing car sales to a standstill.
While last month’s tally was well down on the 1,947 units sold in July this year, when the government’s introduction of clean car rebates for BEVs and PHEVs boosted sales, it was still up 44.3 per cent from 465 units in August 2020.
It was also the fifth highest monthly figure for EV sales. MoT figures show it has only been eclipsed by March, May and July this year – with 917, 711 and 1,947 units respectively – and September 2019 when 1,010 units were sold.
