New Zealand has about 5000 EVs – Norway nearly 200,000

New Zealand electric vehicle numbers are expected to surpass 5000 in October EV registration figures due out shortly from the Ministry of Transport.

But the country is still well behind Norway’s uptake of around 200,000 EVs, with a nearly equivalent population of around the five million mark.

Norway has about 58,184 PHEVs and nearly 130,000 BEVs in its EV make up to September 30, which includes passenger and light commercial vehicles.

That country’s lead in zero emission electric cars is “first and foremost due to a substantial package of incentives”, the European Alternative Fuels Observatory (EAFO) reports.

If the trend continues, the Norwegian EV population may reach 250,000 by 2020, the EAFO says.

Most New Zealand registrations are in used light pure electric vehicles, 2422 to September 17, and this is expected to continue.

New light pure electric and new light plug-in hydrids in New Zealand were just over 1000 in each category to September 17.