EVs to fall short of 2021 target

New Zealand will miss the 64,000 EV target by the end of 2021.

It will fall more than 20,000 short of the goal set by National in 2016, according to the Ministry of Transport which expects about 40,000 EVs in NZ by the deadline.

Missing the target is something EV dealers have been forecasting for some time.

Autolink Cars’ Henry Schmidt told EVtalk in January that New Zealand would fall well short of the 64,000 EV goal. He and other EV dealers featured are critical of the Labour-led coalition Government’s lack of action in boosting EV uptake.

While EV registrations are likely to hit nearly 20,000 in March, at the present rate of increase around 500 monthly New Zealand could miss the 32,000 target for the end of this year by about 8000-10,000 and 16,000 or more short of the 64,000 goal.

The latest projected failure follows EVtalk reporting the Government’s ‘Clean Car’ proposal, which included a ‘feebate’ to encourage low and zero emission vehicle uptake, had reportedly been shelved.

That has brought criticism from the industry and calls for continuing with the policy.

The predicted shortfall shows the former National government was never going to reach its own target, associate transport minister Julie Anne Genter told Newsroom.

She says that’s partly because it didn’t install effective policies to ensure EVs were more affordable.

But National transport spokesman Chris Bishop says Genter has failed to introduce any policy change encouraging EV uptake, Newsroom adds.

The present regime also ditched another goal to have the Crown vehicle fleet emissions-free by mid-2025.