EV sales in New Zealand take a dive in first month of 2024 after discount axed

New Zealand has seen a large drop in its electric vehicle uptake in the first month of 2024, with the latest data from the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) finding that  EVs made up just 244 of the 8,116 vehicles sold in January, or 3% of the overall market. 

This comes from a high of 39.22% in December, when 3,357 battery-electric vehicles made it onto New Zealand road, and is the lowest uptake figure since 2020 and is being blamed on removal of New Zealand’s clean car discount by the new conservative government.

The clean car discount, which ended on December 31, contributed up to $NZ7,015 to the purchase of many new EV models sold in the nation with a purchase price of under $80,000. 

This attracted many manufacturers to sell cleaner cars in the country. It was first introduced back in 2021 and has helped EV uptake surge in subsequent years.

Looking at what topped the EV charts, the BYD Seal took the crown with 31 sales, outselling the very popular Tesla Model Y which starts at $NZ67,900. 

Toyota bZ4X and Subaru Solterra, which share the same underpinnings as each other, took the third and fourth spot in the registration charts in January. 

This is likely due to many dealer-registered vehicles across the country as both models are relatively new to the New Zealand market.

More affordable models like the BYD Dolphin and the MG4 made up a total of 16 registrations during January.

Another key change coming for EV owners and buyers is a road user charge (RUC) which has also recently been announced. It will come into effect from 1st April 2024.

Under the new RUC, EV owners will be paying $NZ76 for every 1,000 km driven.. This means that anyone travelling 15,000 km per year will be paying $1,140.

From the large slump, it’s clear that many buyers took advantage of the clean car discount in December. It’s likely that the market will take a bit of time to adjust and with greater choice of EVs available, buyers will gravitate towards cleaner vehicles as the year progresses.

Manufacturers like Tesla, BYD and MG are expected to see a resurgence in the coming months as potential manufacturer-driven discounting will fill part of the gap created by the removal of clean car discounts.

This would help drive more EV sales, particularly from drivers who want to make the switch to cleaner cars sooner.