EVs close to 8000 goal

New Zealand’s EV fleet size is closing in quickly on this year’s 8000 target, reaching 6884 in February.

All light EV registrations for the month were 281, compared with 230 for February last year, latest Ministry of Transport figures show. It was just 62 in February 2016.

Used light pure electric vehicles continue to lead the field, with 3664 recorded in February 2018 – up 172 on the previous month.

New light pure electrics reached 1358 in February, up 30 on January.

Close behind are new light plug-in hybrids on 1292 – 63 more than January, and used light plug-in hybrids are further back on 491 – 13 more than last month.

Heavy EVs have barely moved, up two on January at 79.

New Zealand has a goal of reaching about 64,000 EVs on the road by the end of 2021, aiming to double the number each year until then.

The target is 8000 by the end of this year and 16,000 by the end of 2019 to achieve the goal, likely to be met much earlier at this rate.