EV registrations already exceed year’s 16k target

Electric vehicle registrations have jumped to 16,031 for August – 610 up on July’s 15,421.

That’s a healthy increase, coming in above July’s 550 rise and May’s 567 increase on the previous month, although below June’s 638 rise, Ministry of Transport registration figures show.

The newly released figure already surpasses the 16,000 EV end-of-year target, with the goal a doubling of EVs every year to get 64,000 on our roads by 2021.

Used light pure EVs still lead the charge, the category rising 276 from July’s 8858 to 9135, compared with a 335 rise in July from June’s 8523.

New light pure electrics followed on 2902, up 192 on July’s 2710. That’s a much better increase than the 75 rise in July on June’s 2625.

And new light plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) reached 2552 registrations. This sector is 86 more than July’s 2466 registrations which was itself an increase of 60 on June’s 2406.

Used light PHEVs totalled 1294 in August, up 49 on July’s 1245 which that month rose 68 on June’s 1177.

Six more heavy EVs were added to the fleet for the month, bringing that category to 148.

Auckland continues to lead the country in EV uptake with 7291 registrations, followed by Canterbury on 2337 and Wellington on 2063.

Some prospective EV customers may be waiting for the introduction of potential rebates under the Government’s proposed ‘clean car discount’ or feebate scheme, but that’s certainly not indicated in the latest figures.

Submissions on the ‘clean car discount’ and the ‘clean car standard’, the latter relating to emissions, closed on August 20 for the public and with September 10 the deadline for some automotive representative groups.

Ministry officials are wading through more than 1000 public submissions with a summary expected to be released later in the month.