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There must be more to it than this, or we'd have fantastic EV uptake here in New Zealand (we don't - EVs currently only have a 6% market share).
by Nition 7mo ago
There must be more to it than this, or we'd have fantastic EV uptake here in New Zealand (we don't - EVs currently only have a 6% market share).
- walthamstow 7mo agoAs other siblings have said, it's also very rich and offers mega tax breaks for EVs. Out of interest, do you mean 6% of cars on the road of 6% of new cars sold last year?
- Nition 7mo agoI mean sales, specifically new car pure EV sales for 2025. We are only at 3% EVs on the road. I think for much of the population a brand new EV is simply too expensive.
- tormeh 7mo agoTbf a plug-in is just an EV that somehow runs on petrol 4 times a year. In practice the vast majority of driving is done on battery power.
- Nition 7mo agoIf you include PHEVs along with pure EVs the total is around 12% total sales for 2025, and 4% total on the road. I'm not sure when PHEVs became available overseas but they haven't been an option here for that long. Heaps of hybrids are being sold but for now still mostly of the traditional non-plug-in type. As alliao says, this is partly because of the way road user charges (RUC) currently work, though that is slated to change in the future.
- seanmcdirmid 7mo agoHybrids and PHEVs are more complicated given that they are both ICEs and EVs. A pure EV is much cheaper, and many places in the developing world don't have easy access to oil anyways.
- hedora 7mo agoEven in the US, our overpriced EVs are cheaper than comparable ICE. They’re mostly big, and compete with 20mpg models. At $4/gallon, you’ll spend $40K on gasoline to drive a new ICE car 200K miles. The EV premium is typically $10-20K. These are all luxury cars, so a trimline upgrade is often $10K. EVs have particularly poor resale value (the technology improves rapidly), so if you’re price sensitive you can get a much better deal by buying something a few years old. In places where competition is allowed, EVs are much cheaper than ICE. That’ll eventually be true in most places. If NZ lets the Chinese models in, I’d expect them to take over immediately.
- seanmcdirmid 7mo agoModel 3s are Honda Accord class, so compacts, not sub-compacts. I haven't seen many sub-compact EVs in the states beyond the Leaf and the Bolt. I’m kind of excited about the new BmW i3, which will be a more normal 3 series size and shape vs the old i3. I won’t buy it of course, I’ve decided I’m not replacing my i4 before a real self driving car is available. I can't imagine why NZ doesn't allow Chinese EVs in already like Australia has. I would guess it isn’t really about restriction but rather the smaller size of the market.
- Nition 7mo agoWe do have Chinese EVs here in NZ, the comment above is incorrect. Although curiously, Nissan has stopped selling us the Leaf.
- ectospheno 7mo agoAt my current 6000 miles per year that would take over three decades. I’ve never owned a car longer than 10 years.
- dalyons 7mo agosadly thats not true at all. In practice, on average as a category, PHEVs barely save any real world emissions over gas (~20%). https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/16/plug-in-hybrids-pollute-almost-as-much-as-petrol-cars-report-finds https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/16/plug-in-... https://electrek.co/2026/02/19/biggest-study-yet-shows-plug-in-hybrids-use-over-300-more-fuel-than-claimed/ https://electrek.co/2026/02/19/biggest-study-yet-shows-plug-...
- alliao 7mo agonz politicians figured out where the tap is to control uptake.. in the name of RUC right now it's tuned so non-plugin hybrid is cheapest, this separates out the price sensitive crowd...
- justin66 7mo agoThe funny part is, given the geographic proximity and free trade relationship with China, New Zealand could become EV-dominant pretty much as quickly as they want. And as the infrastructure allows - is that a limiting factor? Without tariffs, the excellent and inexpensive Chinese electric cars might be an attractive option.