EV Fleet

EVs on the Road

How electric and plug-in hybrid cars are growing as a share of all vehicles in New Zealand.

How many electric vehicles are there in New Zealand?

The number of electric vehicles registered in New Zealand has grown steadily, even as they remain a small share of the overall fleet.

There are currently around 105,400 fully electric light vehicles (plus around 54,000 plug-in hybrids).

Plug-in vehicles registered in New Zealand

Light vehicles

EV: Fully electric vehicle, PHEV: Plug-in hybrid

Fleet data as at 30 September 2026

The slow climb: EVs in New Zealand's light fleet

Unlike market share - which measures new vehicle sales in a given period - the fleet is the total number of vehicles on the road. It takes decades to change; New Zealand has over 4.5 million light vehicles, and most were sold in previous years.

2016

New Zealand's light vehicle fleet by fuel type

Petrol 82.0%

Diesel 17.5%

Petrol 82.0%

Diesel 17.5%

Hybrid 0.4%

EV 0.0%

PHEV 0.0%

What percentage is electric?

2.33%

1 in 43 vehicles

PHEV

1.20%

1 in 84 vehicles

Total plug-ins

3.52%

1 in 28 vehicles

The Slow Climb

EV share of New Zealand's light vehicle fleet over time

Vehicle fleet data from Ministry of Transport. EV: Fully electric vehicle, PHEV: Plug-in hybrid.

The number of petrol-only vehicles on the road is declining. Electrified vehicles (hybrid, EV, PHEV) are replacing these vehicles. Diesel vehicles have stayed mostly flat - growing by 0.5% since 2022.

How long does it take the fleet to change?

New Zealand has a unique vehicle market. Not only do vehicles tend to be older, but additions to the fleet arrive as both new and used imports. These factors lead to a slow transition.

Even if 100% of new vehicle registrations were electric from 2030, the entire light fleet would still only be 50% electric by 2040.

The long-term trend is the decline of petrol-only vehicles, which are being replaced by various forms of electrified ones (hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and full EVs).

EV projections for New Zealand

Based on current fleet growth and EV share trends, the model projects how quickly New Zealand's light-vehicle fleet turns electric.

New vehicles: EV growth3.5 pp/yr

Yearly increase in EV share of new vehicle sales, in percentage points.

Used imports: EV growth1 pp/yr

Yearly increase in EV share of used imports, in percentage points.

Fleet growth rate0.9 %/yr

Annual growth of the light vehicle fleet (currently ~1%/yr).

EV share of registrations

New vehicles

Used imports

EV share of vehicles on the road (fleet)

EV% of fleet

Outcome
In 2025, 5.6% of new vehicles and 2% of used imports registered in NZ were electric, and 2.0% of the fleet was electric.

With new EV share rising 3.5 pp/yr and used imports making up 40% of fleet inflow, half the fleet would be electric by 2051 and does not reach 90% by 2060. Because used imports arrive much older and carry a low EV share, the fleet lags well behind new car sales.

About the projections

The modelling combines both new vehicle and used import registration estimates, and tracks potential scrappage at each year.

An EV is defined as a fully electric vehicle (BEV).
The 'fleet' refers to all light vehicles currently registered (on the road).
EV share of registrations: vehicles entering the fleet as new or used imports.
EV share of fleet: vehicles currently on the road.

EV share growth is measured as percentage point growth each year (i.e. linear growth). In reality this tends to vary considerably - and tends to slow when nearing saturation. This makes the model naive. In addition, NZ's small market can shift quickly, depending on policy and pricing.

However, it demonstrates that New Zealand's vehicle fleet will electrify slowly - due to two primary factors. 1. Our vehicles tend to be kept for a long time. 2. The used import market (primarily from Japan) will maintain a low EV share for the forseeable future.