Wellington leading the EV charge

Thirty is the Government’s magic number.

That is the percentage of New Zealand’s national vehicle fleet that needs to be fully powered by electricity by 2035 if the country wants tomeet its first emissions budget.

However, in all but two regions, full battery electric vehicles (EVs) make up less than 1% of all vehicles registered, according to new data from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.

Last week, the Government released its Emissions Reduction Plan – revealing how it aims to meet New Zealand’s first emissions budget of 72.4 million tonnes a year.

Slashing transport emissions took a starring role, and with about 20% of the country’s emissions coming from the sector, there was a bigger focus on individuals and their transport habits.

The Government wants 30% of its light vehicle fleet – cars, vans and utes – to be fully electric by 2035, and wants people travelling 20% fewer kilometres in vehicles by then too, and instead be walking, cycling, or using public transport.

According to the transport agency’s data, of the more than 4.6m vehicles registered in New Zealand as of April 30, some 35,970 were full EVs – just 0.77%

But not all regions were equal in their efforts to electrify.

Wellington was leading the charge, with 1.22% (5351 of 438,145 total) of its fleet of registered vehicles made up of EVs.

Auckland was in second place at 1.02% (15,234 of 1,490,023 total), while Canterbury sat in third at 0.82% (5380 of 654,977 total).

Then came Nelson at a close 0.81%, Tasman at 0.79%, Otago at 0.78%, Northland at 0.55%, Waikato at 0.52%, Marlborough at 0.46%, Bay of Plenty at 0.45%, Hawke’s Bay at 0.40%, Taranaki at 0.37%, ManawatuWhanganui at 0.35%, and Gisborne at 0.22%. At the bottom were Southland at 0.20% and the West Coast, at just 0.12% – or 44 of its 36,292 registered vehicles being electric.

Nearly a third of those registered vehicles were utes or 4WDs,, but just one was electric. The Chatham Islands came last, with no EVs among its 362 light vehicles.

The data suggested the percentage of full EVs per registered vehicle was rising year-on-year, with a big spike nationwide since 2021.

For the top region – Wellington – the percentage of its fleet made up of pure EVs had increased five-fold since 2018, from 0.24% to 1.22% in 2022.

Auckland’s EV rate had increased from 0.26% to 1.02%, while Canterbury’s had increased from 0.16% to 0.82% – another sharp fivefold increase.

Earlier this month Climate Change Minister James Shaw announced a new $579m ‘‘cash for clunker’’ scheme, that could see tens of thousands of low-income families trading in older, less fuel-efficient cars for cleaner alternatives – either an EV or a hybrid.

More details on the scheme are to be released over the coming months.

The transport agency data showed the average age of New Zealand’s fleet was 14.5 years old.

But some regions were trailing behind. Southland had the oldest fleet in the country at 17.8 years, with the West Coast trailing just behind at 17.7 years. Auckland had the youngest fleet at an average of 12.9 years, while the average Wellington car was 13.7 years old, and the average Canterbury car 16 years.

TransportMinister Michael Wood said the Government knew its goal of having 30% of the light vehicle fleet electric by 2035 was ambitious, but it had world-leading policy in place to make it a reality.

New EV sales were increasing rapidly, he said, with the introduction of the Clean Car Discount in 2021 tripling their sales.

‘‘For the first time, we are now seeing months where the top-selling passenger car of any fuel type produces no emissions.

‘‘Sales by market share of EV passenger cars have risen from 3% in 2020 to 20% in March [and] April this year. This puts us up there as global leaders on a percentage of market share basis.’’

This was expected to continue, Wood said. The ‘‘feebate’’ scheme had also created a ‘‘rapid increase’’ in hybrid sales, he said.

When both plug-in and non-plugin hybrids were included in the transport agency figures, EVs made up 5.21% of Auckland’s fleet, 4.90% of Wellington’s, and 3.03% of Canterbury’s.

‘‘While EVs are the cleanest form of vehicle, hybrids also offer significant emissions savings.’’

While Wood didn’t comment on policies targeting low EV uptake in the regions, he said on top of the ‘‘cash-for-clunker’’ scheme, they would trial a social leasing scheme to allow low-income families to borrow low-emission cars from community organisations.

The trial would operate from early 2023 in three communities.

The Chatham Islands came last, with no EVs among its 362 light vehicles.