At the panel discussion hosted this morning by NZME's Driven, Transport Minister Michael Wood reiterated the Government's goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from public transport vehicles.
Despite lockdowns and pandemic-related supply chain issues causing delivery days, September was New Zealand's second strongest month ever for new vehicle sales.
It also saw sales of electric models surging under the new Clean Car Discount, with Tesla's Model 3 outselling Toyota's Hilux as one in five sales went to models with some degree of electrification.
It was an exceptionally strong month for vehicles with some form of electrification in their drive train, making up 3505 units or 21 per cent of total sales, Motor Industry Association chief executive David Crawford said.
According to the Ministry of Transport - Te Manatū Waka - figures, just 299 light electric vehicles were registered in September 2020.
The new Clean Car Discount, which sees the Government pay a subsidy of up to $8625 for a new EV, kicked in on July 1 and saw EV sales quadruple to 1944 that month before level 4 restrictions cooled the whole market in August (see more on the rebate, plus a calculator, below).
As of September 30, there were 32,780 electric vehicles on NZ roads, according to MoT data.
Although sales surged since the rebate kicked in, that's still well short of the 64,000 or 2 per cent of NZ's total fleet by the end of 2021 target that the then National Government set in May 2016 as the first EV incentives were introduced - including an exemption from road user charges (which is ongoing), subsidies for public charger networks (also ongoing) and the ability to drive in T2 and bus lanes (which did not survive a short trial).
Crawford said the 3505 electric vehicles sold in September broke down to 1512 light and heavy BEVs (battery eclectic vehicles or "pure EVs"), 537 PHEVs (plug-in hybrid EVs) and 1456 hybrid vehicles.
"This is the first time there were more fully electric vehicles registered in a month than non-plugin hybrid vehicles," Crawford said.
September's top-selling EVs
In pure EVs, the top-selling models for September were the Tesla Model 3 (1066 units) followed by the MG ZS (122 units) and the Hyundai Kona (84 units).
The Model 3, which starts at $68,732, is Tesla's "affordable" model, and the only EV in the US car maker's stable that falls under the $80,000 cut-off to qualify for the Clean Car Discount.
There were 537 plugin hybrid electric vehicles registered in September. The top-selling models were the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (282 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Outlander (115 units) and the MG HS (47 units).
The top-selling hybrids were the Toyota RAV4 (466 units) followed by the Toyota Corolla (247 units) and Toyota Yaris Cross (117 units).
Record month overall
September was the second strongest month of any month since the MIA began keeping records,
For the month of September there were 16,518 vehicles sold compared to 10,902 vehicles in September 2020, an increase of 5615 or 51.5 per cent.
Year to date there have been 123,016 vehicles sold compared to 87,474 to end of September 2020, an overall increase year to date of 40.6 per cent (35,542 units).
"New vehicle distributors have worked hard under trying circumstances to supply orders," Crawford said.
"The result is remarkable given Auckland was at alert level 3 for the month."
Ford retained the market lead with 32 per cent market share (1503 units) followed by Toyota with 20 per cent (941 units) and Mitsubishi third with 6 per cent market share (256 units).
The Ford Ranger retained the top spot for the month of September as the bestselling commercial model with 30 per cent share (1408 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux with 14 per cent share (648 units) and the Toyota Hiace in third place with 5 per cent market share (232 units).
Accommodating EVs's strain on our power systems
The rise of EV sales, plus major car manufactures' announcements that they plan to abandon ICE (internal combustion engine) models after 2030, has sparked national grid operator Transpower to run the numbers on increasing capacity and increasing smarter power systems - which it says will cost $50m per year from 2030 - but save the country money overall given charging an EV is the equivalent of paying 40 cents a litre for petrol.
And with the dream of a home solar system powering an electric car still too expensive for many, lines company Vector is running a 200-home trial with local home charger maker Evnex, where charging can be dialed-up at off-peak times.
Calculating your rebate
The rebate scheme, which kicked in on July 1, sees the Government pay a subsidy of up to $8625 for a new EV and up to $5750 for a new PHEV for models costing less than $80,000.
A used EV can be subsidised up to $3450 and a used PHEV up to $2300. (A companion programme, which will start next year, will see a penalty fee of up to $5175 for high-emission vehicles - see calculator below).
If you do claim a rebate. Check your sums. One of the first to take advantage of the scheme, MG HS PHEV buyer Steve Smith was due $5750 back on his purchase. Twenty days later, NZTA deposited just $5000 into his account. The $750 shortfall was eventually pinned on a clerical error.
