The total was made up of 1100 new and NZ-new registrations of EVs and 440 PHEVs.
EV sales for the year-to-date (4203) are now twice those at this time last year (2092) and the strongest since the 2023 Clean Car Discount/post-lockdown boom – with most of the gains made since the Iran War started on February 28.
PHEV sales year-to-date (2639) are at an all-time high, despite plug-in hybrid owners copping both petrol tax and road user charges (if at a 38c per 1000km rate compared to pure EV owners’ 76c per 1000km).
Sustaining the growth could be challenging, at least over the next few weeks.
Last week, the biggest-selling EV brand, BYD, said it had sold out.
But country manager Warren Willmot said more stock was en route – including the Chinese firm’s largest ever shipment to NZ, due in June.
Drive Electric chairwoman Kirsten Corson said many of her group’s members, who span from Tesla to Turners Motor Group, were also seeing a surge in EV interest.
Toyota, which pioneered the petrol hybrid boom with its Prius, before extending the technology across most of its range, says it’s now seeing a “sharp spike in interest” in its electrified range, including its fully-electric bZ4X.
Corson cautions, however, that the Iran War effect could be temporary.
Her group wants the Government to take measures to increase EV uptake, including lowering road user charges and exempting electric cars from Fringe Benefit Tax.
Drive Electric welcomed Transport Minister Christopher Bishop’s announcement of $52.7 million in loans to Mercury and ChargeNet (majority-owned by Genesis) to boost the number of public electric chargers – but also said it fell short of the $257m initially promised for the campaign to lift chargers to 10,000 by 2030 (from around 2574 today).
The $52.7m injection, plus private co-investment, will take that to around 4550.
Friday saw ChargeNet, which runs the largest charger network, raise its rates by 6% – taking the cost of an Auckland to Tauranga roadtrip, with a “Hypercharger” charge plus RUCs, to close to that of a petrol-powered journey.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
