Which region is leading the charge when it comes to electric vehicle uptake?

Friday, 27 May 2022

Climate Change Minister James Shaw outlines the country's first plan to transition away from greenhouse gas emissions.

Just two regions have more than 1% full electric vehicles in their fleet, despite the Government aiming to have 30% of NZ’s light vehicles electric by 2035.
Wellington has the most full battery EVs per car registered of any region, but they still make up just 1.22%
Outside the main centres, regions like Gisborne, Southland and the West Coast are lagging behind, with EVs making up as little as 0.12% of registered vehicles.
Transport Minister Michael Wood remains confident Government policy – including new schemes in the Emissions Reduction Plan – will help Kiwis meet the ambitious target.

The Government wants 30% of NZ’s light vehicles to be electric by 2035.

Thirty is the Government’s magic number.

That is the percentage of New Zealand’s national vehicle fleet that needs to be fully powered by electricity by 2035 if the country wants to meet its first emissions budget.

However, in all but two regions, full battery electric vehicles (EVs) make up less than 1% of all vehicles registered, according to new data from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.

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Last week, the Government released its Emissions Reduction Plan – revealing how it aims to meet New Zealand’s first emissions budget of 72.4 million tonnes a year.

Slashing transport emissions took a starring role, and with about 20% of the country’s emissions coming from the sector, there was a bigger focus on individuals and their transport habits.

The Government wants 30% of its light vehicle fleet – cars, vans and utes – to be fully electric by 2035, and wants people travelling 20% fewer kilometres in vehicles by then too, and instead be walking, cycling, or using public transport.

According to the transport agency’s data, of the more than 4.6m vehicles registered in New Zealand as of April 30, some 35,970 were full EVs – just 0.77%

But not all regions were equal in their efforts to electrify.

Wellington was leading the charge, with 1.22% (5351 of 438,145 total) of its fleet of registered vehicles made up of EVs.

Auckland was in second place at 1.02% (15,234 of 1,490,023 total), while Canterbury sat in third at 0.82% (5380 of 654,977 total).

Then came Nelson at a close 0.81%, Tasman at 0.79%, Otago at 0.78%, Northland at 0.55%, Waikato at 0.52%, Marlborough at 0.46%, Bay of Plenty at 0.45%, Hawke’s Bay at 0.40%, Taranaki at 0.37%, Manawatū-Whanganui at 0.35%, and Gisborne at 0.22%.

At the bottom were Southland at 0.20% and the West Coast, at just 0.12% – or 44 of its 36,292 registered vehicles being electric.

Nearly a third of those registered vehicles were utes or 4WDs,, but just one was electric.

The Chatham Islands came last, with no EVs among its 362 light vehicles.

The data suggested the percentage of full EVs per registered vehicle was rising year-on-year, with a big spike nationwide since 2021.

For the top region – Wellington – the percentage of its fleet made up of pure EVs had increased five-fold since 2018, from 0.24% to 1.22% in 2022.

Confused by all the acronyms surrounding Electric vehicles and hybrids? Here's a quick overview of the differences between HEVs, PHEVs and BEVs.

Auckland’s EV rate had increased from 0.26% to 1.02%, while Canterbury’s had increased from 0.16% to 0.82% – another sharp five-fold increase.

While the West Coast’s overall EV numbers remained low, the proportion of its fleet made up of EVs was just 0.027% in 2018 – just nine cars total, compared to the 44 now.

Southland, on the other hand, had gone from 0.056% to 0.20% from 2018 to 2022, a more gradual three-fold increase.

Earlier this month Climate Change Minister James Shaw announced a new $579m “cash for clunker” scheme, that could see tens of thousands of low-income families trading in older, less fuel-efficient cars for cleaner alternatives – either an EV or a hybrid.

More details on the scheme are to be released over the coming months.

The transport agency data showed the average age of New Zealand's fleet was 14.5 years old.

Transport Minister Michael Wood says New Zealand has a world-leading policy to make its goal of electrifying 30% of the light vehicle by 2035 a reality.

But some regions were trailing behind. Southland had the oldest fleet in the country at 17.8 years, with the West Coast trailing just behind at 17.7 years.

Nelson and Tasman also had average fleet ages of more than 17 years.

Auckland had the youngest fleet at an average of 12.9 years, while the average Wellington car was 13.7 years old, and the average Canterbury car 16 years.

Transport Minister Michael Wood said the Government knew its goal of having 30% of the light vehicle fleet electric by 2035 was ambitious, but it had world-leading policy in place to make it a reality.

New EV sales were increasing rapidly, he said, with the introduction of the Clean Car Discount in 2021 tripling their sales.

“For the first time, we are now seeing months where the top-selling passenger car of any fuel type produces no emissions.

With the latest petrol price hike there has been a rush on buying electric vehicles (video first published March 2022).

“Sales by market share of EV passenger cars have risen from 3% in 2020 to 20% in March [and] April this year. This puts us up there as global leaders on a percentage of market share basis.”

This was expected to continue, Wood said.

“There is a greater range and variety of EV vehicles coming into New Zealand, and this will continue to increase over time… This will provide more choices for more people, which will help increase uptake, and people will become more familiar with the options available for them.”

The “feebate” scheme had also created a “rapid increase” in hybrid sales, he said.

When both plug-in and non-plug-in hybrids were included in the transport agency figures, EVs made up 5.21% of Auckland’s fleet, 4.90% of Wellington’s, and 3.03% of Canterbury’s.

“While EVs are the cleanest form of vehicle, hybrids also offer significant emissions savings.”

While Wood didn’t comment on policies targeting low EV uptake in the regions, he said on top of the “cash-for-clunker” scheme, they would trial a social leasing scheme to allow low-income families to borrow low-emission cars from community organisations.

The trial would operate from early 2023 in three communities to test its effectiveness.

EV City owner David Boot says they sell very few cars to the regions, with range and cost being major factors.

“This will provide a leg-up to those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford to shift to a low-emission vehicle, helping them reduce their living costs and get ahead.”

David Boot is the owner of EV City, an electric vehicle specialist dealership based in Christchurch.

It experienced a big rise in sales when the Government introduced its EV “feebate” policy in July last year, which subsidised EV s and plug-in hybrids by up to $8625 in a bid to lower transport emissions.

“The surge in uptake was about 20% [here] when that happened, but then it probably doubled again when the fuel prices went up in March,” Boot said.

Christchurch satellite towns like Prebbleton saw increases of 30 to 40 cents a litre on petrol, he said, which had a big impact on day-to-day costs.

Boot says they sell maybe one hybrid for every 100 full EVs.

“People are very focused on their weekly budget.”

Boot said demand was highest for full EVs, and they would typically only sell one hybrid for every 100 EVs sold.

“We get a lot of people saying they don’t want a hybrid, because it’s only a half-step in the right direction.”

EV City had also seen about 30% of its vehicles sold to people outside the region, he said.

Boot said it made sense that the percentage of Canterbury's fleet made up of EVs was rising faster than the other major centres.

A greater proportion of people in Christchurch had their own off-street parking or garages than their Auckland or Wellington counterparts, he said.

“They have the luxury of waking up with a full battery.

“We recently sold a Tesla to a person in Wellington, and they’re planning to run an extension cord across the pavement.”

Boot said they sold very few vehicles outside the major centres.

“Out of the 3000 EVs we’ve sold, we’ve sold maybe three to the West Coast.”

The big issue, he said, was range. “They don’t go far enough.”

A Nissan Leaf would travel about 150km on a single charge, and while that was enough for most city-dwellers, people on the coast often traversed much greater distances, he said.

“At the moment, there are not enough really good EVs at affordable prices for people who want to get out there on the weekend. But eventually there will be.”

Boot said he encountered “huge motivation” to make greener transport choices, but it was cloaked in fear, and people had been using petrol and diesel vehicles for a long time.

“[Then] along comes this green alternative, and everyone’s suspicious of it… There’s been a lot of misinformation.”