EV Market Share: Light Vehicles

EV market share represents the percentage of monthly vehicle registrations that are electric vehicles.

EV market share snapshot

Market share by motive power

Vehicle registrations can be grouped by their primary motive power. ‘Electric Vehicle’ (EV) encompasses battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, which can operate on electricity from an external charging port.

Vehicle market drill down

Light vehicles are grouped by their motive power and make, drilling down to the numbers of each registered model.

• MONTH
• YEAR

Yearly EV market share

EV registrations doubled in 2021 and 2022, and market share followed the same trend. In 2023, both market share and volume continued to grow. However, 2024 saw a drastic drop in EV registrations.

Market share by fuel type over time

At the beginning of 2020, over 88% of light vehicle registrations in New Zealand were Petrol or Diesel.

Petrol-only vehicles are losing market share to electrified vehicles. Diesel vehicle market share remains strong due to the high number of utes (light trucks) registered monthly.

• Month
• Quarter
• Year

EV market share per month

The EV market grew very slowly until the introduction of the Clean Car Discount (2021-2023). An increasing number of models and downward price movement have also contributed to EV popularity.

EV registrations vary significantly from month to month – so a 3-month rolling average has been charted.

Cars: New vs Used Imports

Segmenting passenger cars into new and used import registrations shows a marked difference in EV uptake.

Supply of used battery EVs from traditional markets (Japan) is limited to the Nissan Leaf.

CHAdeMO vs CCS

New Zealand EVs have two different DC fast-charge socket types – CHAdeMo (predominant in Japanese used imports) and CCS Type 2. This affects fast-charging infrastructure as both plug types must be catered for.

In mid-2022, there was a 50/50 split between the two types. Since then, CCS EVs have dominated market share, leading to a 2:1 ratio of CCS to CHAdeMO.

Only battery-electric vehicles are charted. Some plug-in hybrids (such as older Mitsubishi Outlander PHEVs) also have a CHAdeMo socket – but how often these vehicles are fast-charged is unknown. Given increased electricity costs at DC charge points and the small size of the batteries, fast-charging is unlikely.

EVs on the technology adoption life cycle

The technology adoption life cycle is a theory that predicts the uptake of new technology. It’s based on ideas about the diffusion of innovation and can be presented as a bell-curve graph.

The transition from early adopters to the early majority is significant enough to be called ‘crossing the chasm‘. Some technologies fail to make this transition.

Linear growth is one possible forecast, but it seems unlikely due to the following:

• NZ is at an early stage of EV adoption; many see EVs as a compromise or too early of a technology.
• The future of government policy assisting EV uptake is uncertain.
• Many buyers opt for hybrid cars (used import and new NZ) to save on fuel costs.
• NZ relies on the Japanese Domestic Market for most used car stock. Japan has a good supply of hybrids but very little supply of BEVs (Japan has very low EV adoption).
• Economy – inflation and cost-of-living increases may dampen the mood for new vehicle purchases.
• NZ has an aggressive ute (light truck) market. The market share of these (predominantly diesel) vehicles has shown no sign of changing.
• Reliable and comprehensive charging infrastructure is critical to EV adoption.

See more about the NZ EV adoption curve and how we meet governmental targets.