One in four new vehicles plugged in during September as Tesla returns to the top

New Zealanders registered 2662 new battery electric vehicles in September, almost four times the 683 of September last year and more than double August’s 1101, according to figures compiled by Drive Electric from NZTA data.

Plug-in hybrids rose 179% to 1468. Together the two took 25.2% of new light vehicle registrations, up from 9.1% a year earlier, meaning one in four new light vehicles registered in September could be plugged in. Among passenger cars alone the plug-in share was 28.7%.

The Motor Industry Association says half of the passenger vehicles registered to private buyers in September were battery electric or plug-in hybrid models. “The September data shows customers continuing to embrace a broader range of motive power options, particularly battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles,” says MIA chief executive Aimee Wiley.

The MIA also says some vehicles originally expected in August were registered in September.

Year to date, battery electric registrations stand at 14,836, up 167% on the first nine months of 2025, and plug-in hybrids at 10,661, up 115%.

Tesla back on top

Tesla registered 650 vehicles, 588 of them Model Ys and 62 Model 3s, as it again concentrated deliveries at the end of the quarter. That compares with 88 in August and 227 in September last year, and takes Tesla to 3252 for the year, the most of any battery electric brand.

BYD registered 590 battery electric vehicles, led by the Atto 2 on 172 and the Atto 1 on 151, with the Sealion 7 on 125 and Atto 3 on 115. Together with 500 plug-in hybrids, including 219 Shark 6 utes, that gave BYD its first month above 1000 registrations. It is second for the year on 2890 battery electric registrations.

Kia was third on 246, up from 20 in August, with the EV3 on 110 and EV5 on 107. MG followed on 236, made up largely of 165 MG 4s and 45 S6s, then Geely on 178, with the EX2 on 100 and EX5 on 74.

Zeekr registered 105, with 71 7Xs and 32 of the X, ahead of GWM on 92, all of them Ora hatchbacks. Toyota’s 57 included 32 bZ4X Touring wagons and 23 standard bZ4Xs. Jaecoo, GAC, Dongfeng and Leapmotor each registered about 50, and Farizon, Volvo, Arcfox, BMW and XPeng each between 30 and 37.

Rental fleets, which took more than a third of the overall new passenger market in September, accounted for few of the month’s battery electric vehicles. NZTA data shows 65 were registered for rental use.

RAV4 leads plug-in hybrids

The Toyota RAV4 was again the most-registered plug-in hybrid, on 352. The BYD Shark 6 followed on 219, then the BYD Sealion 6 on 84, GWM Haval H6 on 83 and BYD Sealion 5 on 78. The new BYD Atto 2 DM-i added 68, ahead of the Geely Starray EM-i on 64, Jaecoo J7 on 55 and Chery Tiggo 8 on 49.

By brand, BYD led plug-in hybrids on 500, ahead of Toyota on 352, GWM on 126 and Chery on 121.

A further 33 Leapmotor C10 and B10 range-extender models were registered. These use a petrol engine as a generator and are not counted in the battery electric or plug-in hybrid totals.

Used imports more than double

Used import battery electric registrations rose to 305 in September, from 129 a year earlier, and were level with August’s 317. All but three came from Japan.

The Nissan Leaf accounted for 188 of them, up from 110, with most built between 2017 and 2022. Tesla registered 67 used imports, up from 12, made up of 41 Model 3s, 22 Model Ys, three Model Ss and a Model X.

For the year to date, 2924 used battery electric vehicles have been registered, up 136% on the 1238 of the first nine months of 2025. The Leaf has taken two-thirds of them, on 1956, while used Model 3 registrations have almost quadrupled to 314 and Model Ys risen from 17 to 117.

Used plug-in hybrids rose to 101 from 58. The Mitsubishi Outlander led on 51, ahead of 16 each for the Toyota Prius and RAV4, which recorded one between them a year earlier. Together, battery electric and plug-in hybrid models took 5% of used passenger imports in September, up from 2.6%, according to Drive Electric.

Drive Electric counts 2182 public charging points in New Zealand.