December new car sales delivered a rather remarkable result, not so much for the totals sold, but rather for the nature of the vehicles sold.
The Clean Car Discount (CCD) ended on 31 December 2023, and this induced a surge in sales.
In fact more than 81% of the 8559 passenger cars sold in the month were either EV's or hybrids of some sort.
That means 6964 of them were "new energy vehicles" (NEV), with only 1595 being traditional internal combustion engine powered (ICE). That is not only the lowest proportion as ICE ever, it is also the lowest number as ICE (apart from the April 2020 level when everyone was in full lockdown).
In all of 2023, NEV sales accounted for more than half or all sales (53%), whereas in 2022 the share was about a third (35%) and in 2021 it was just a fifth (21%).
NEV sales now dominate.
The ending of the CCD probably won't change the direction much, but it will almost certainly result in a sales drought for a few months.
That sales drought has already hit the commercial sector. Only 1044 new commercial vehicles were sold in December and that was a 21 year low, the lowest since January 2001. In fact, new commercial vehicle sales have been retreating sharply all year and only 38,013 were sold over the whole of 2023. That compares with 48,524 in 2022 and 54,389 in 2021.
For used imported passenger cars, the story is quite different. December sales were unusually high at 12,806 and the second highest month in 21 months.
In China, they are already thinking about what will happen when EV's are a large enough share of their total vehicle fleet that they need to integrate this storage into their national grid. They have just released an important discussion document on how that will be done and aim to have all the standards in place by 2025, so that by 2030 (in six years) will have car EV batteries as an important storage element of their national grid. A Chinese car owner's battery capacity will then presumably be controlled by Beijing. You might wish to keep your Social Credit score high so that they don't disable or drain your personal transport. (More here.)
New vehicles sold
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123 Comments
Sure there is something incredibly perverse in getting the poorest people in the nation with NO transport options and NO ability to even enter EV vehicles to pay for the new cars of the richest people in the nation, all while the poorest are losing their access to work and medical centers in the process. You set out with the principle of killing the poorest people with the worst transport access and just wanted a way to give yourself ego pats on the back for doing so.
New model cars come with a new model price, and those who cannot afford to or choose not to afford said new model cars won't buy them. As time passes these vehicles will be sold down the chain and become more available at more reasonable prices, just like has been the case with ICE vehicles for the last century. This is stock standard realism and historically shown globally and has nothing to do with disadvantaging anyone. If you are however talking about the rebate scheme, then I can only direct your frustrations to the previous Labour government and their poor choices.
Yes, with sodium ion battery cars now being produced and BYD building the worlds largest battery plant dedicated to sodium ion, the price of new electric cars will soon be less than ICE cars. Hopefully Northvolts batteries will take off too and be reliable.
Sodium batteries probably will never have the energy density of their lithium counterparts, but if we can produce new electric cars that can go say 250km, can be charged 0-80% in 15 minutes and cost something like $25k, can be cycled significantly more than current lithium ion batteries it will be a game changer. And that looks to be just around the corner.
I wonder if near new ICE cars will become a desired vehicle type in the near future? Happy to be corrected but don’t Toyota only sell EV or hybrids in the Corolla range? When you want to spend $20k it’s has to be an ICE. ‘Drive the cheapest car your ego can afford.’
If I was an early adopter, doing high mileage and wanted a car that would have good straight line acceleration I would go EV.
But I do not do these 3 things.
I prefer my existing rear wheel drive car which is a manual. A lightweight winding road type car for sunny day driving.
Considering this is an article about numbers your comments are bizarre, fuel and maintenance of a combustion engine are huge when compared to an electric. The rebate was about getting new and used cars here that don't burn petrol or are much more efficient, and it worked. Who has money to waste burning imported fossil fuel. As a bonus you don't have air and nosie pollution in you towns and city's. EV are cheaper to run more fun to drive and don't support OPEC nations.
I like EVs. But if people borrow to buy a new EV to save on fuel costs and maintenance, the interest payments alone would surely outweigh the benefits. Until EVs can be bought by the average buyer for cash, at cash prices, they will remain luxury items. That's good- they can pay for the depreciation on a new vehicle.
Sure you can they are even more reliable than older cars now, no more points to adjust and no more timing to adjust and they have pretty much all gone cam chains now. Get an OBDII reader and some decent software. Change the oil every 10,000km and it will go for 20 years plus.
battery tech is advancing at a great rate, VW have developed a solid state battery that is lighter and will last for 500K with a loss of only 10% range using fast charging.
EV will become cheaper and longer range its just a matter of time before they become the mainstrean choice.
it also shows how short sighted national were to sell the power companies who profits will now only go one way
Changing a lightbulb is a major operation on some ICE vehicles.
Its not economic to do major engine repairs on a ICE over 20 years old. Or if the airbags go off 9in common with older electric vehicles).Insurance companies will write them off for anything other than minor damage.
Home mechanics could do it , but then I've seen photos of home mechanics changing leaf batteries using jacks etc.
But then i guess i'm used to high voltage D.C, and don't see it as anything scary ( but to be respected), but of course your average mechanic would rightly be very wary of touching them.
Zwifter,
we have both; a small EV for local driving-which is most of it-and an ICE for longer journeys. I like cars and was fortunate enough to have a succession of Audis over some 30 years in the UK, but having had the EV for almost 3 years now, I can tell you that it is just as pleasant to drive as my Honda.
I struggle to believe that you can do all the servicing on a new car. They are not like they were 40 years ago.
The basics haven't changed in a 100 years mechanically. I swapped a modern drive train into a 1962 body and chassis, rewired it, and have the gear and enough knowledge to be dangerous tuning it. Not a trained mechanic.
All the service bs mechanical shops waffle on about now is just taking advantage of how useless the populace have become at basic vehicle maintenance.
I'm the opposite, I love driving EV more than ICE. Particularly the regenerative braking on a Tesla where I can drive to Coro and not touch the brakes - and that energy goes back to the battery rather than heat via disks. That alone is a game changer - the amount of momentum converted to heat.
I'm not sure on reliability and resale however, ICE seems to be the winner there. Plus if you need to tow etc. But I'd choose an EV for the drive, but then again I've scrathced the ICE itch and find sports cars very sad these days.
Yes, one of the biggest advantages of a EV is brake performance , and brake wear.
Even my old 1998 Prius , had way superior brake performance compared to other vehicles of the era. When a tractor pulled out in front of me , it stopped in time , whereas I'm sure i would have hit it in any of my other vehicles. Had a sore neck for a week or so , but no other damage. Tire grip on the road is a limiting factor, otherwise electric brakes could pretty much stop a vehicle as fast as the human body will survive.
That simply is not true at all. Any standard set of mechanical brakes will pull a car up at the limits of tyre grip if the driver presses the brake pedal hard enough for a single stop, if they don't you need to stop buying brake pads made of overcooked weetbix and change the brake fluid once in a while. Repeated stops are when you need to start looking at upgraded brake components.
And no, there are limits on what regen braking can do, you need to dump the energy somewhere, and there are limits on how fast you can dump energy into a battery, and what the inverter can handle, both are far lower than maximum braking potential in any typical EV. Unless you want to add a 400kW braking resistor grid and the circuitry to support it you will smack into those limits well before the tyres run out of grip. Not to mention mechanical brakes work on all four wheels, regen braking often only acts on two wheels.
It sounds like you know more about this than I do. There may not be complete capture of regenerative braking energy however the car still stops without disk braking in 95% of braking situations, which is a massive saving on brake wear and tear (probably $2k per year on average for a decent car).
Yes, agreed, if you are just braking normally then you often don't need mechanical brakes. I usually can get from home to work without touching the brake pedal, so long as no one cuts me off or stops suddenly. Bloody good never having to deal with wheels covered in brake dust. But regen braking doesn't cut it in hard stops, or even some downhill stops, and if the battery is at a high SOC and low temp, then regen goes bye bye on the Teslas.
The Prius had a system where , if the battery was full , it used the electric motor/engine as a brake. hence on a long downhill the engine would be revving. only struck it once south of Gisborne and wondered what the hell was going on. the brakes were better than the standards of the time .
I don't know what the story is with a Tesla with a full battery, ( which would be a small amount of time ) but a regenerative electric motor can brake down to 0 km/h.
Paying people thousands of dollars to do what they were only going to do anyway was a failed policy from the outset. I'm only disappointed I couldnt get Labour to give me thousands of dollars to plant some shrubs in my garden, I need to get my garden re-landscaped ... you know, to save the planet and all.
The policy was to take money from polluting car purchases and give it to non polluting cars purchases, quite different to your garden shrubs. We have signed up to emission targets and this is a free way of getting somewhere. The only issue is it was too popular and there were not enough ICE sales to counterbalance the EV subsidies, but it just needed tweaks not removal.
Being a landlord isn't property speculation, the tax deduction is a legitimate expense incurred in the business. The climate hasn't changed where I live, but you know, there's a hell of a lot of gullible people out there.
If being a landlord's the road to riches, borrow a million and do it yourself.
The debt is an expense, but the capital gain it creates isn’t a profit.
And is debt really a legitimate business expense:
- Most of it is offset by inflation anyway
- Should a profitable tax paying business all of a sudden make a loss just because it was purchased with debt?
Praise be to Christopher Luxon for repealing that oh-so-awful policy. The horror inflicted on new vehicle purchasers who were literally forced into buying EVs for their honest hard-working farm needs could not stand any longer. The government should not be able to stop people buying the ICE vehicle they so desire.
Oh wait.
Sure there is something incredibly perverse in getting the poorest people in the nation with NO transport options and NO ability to even enter EV vehicles to pay for the new cars of the richest people in the nation, all while the poorest are losing their access to work and medical centers in the process. You set out with the principle of killing the poorest people with the worst transport access and just wanted a way to give yourself ego pats on the back for doing so.
Labour lost a lot of votes from those same poor people who would really like to have their access to hospital and work back.
What you all seem to forget is that the clean car rebate also applied to small ICE models like the Suzuki swift which was reduced by about $2,600.
The idea was to encourage people to drive small economic cars not two ton double cab utes.
I see a lot of small men who need to compensate.
I'm really tempted to buy a new Dodge, I love 4wd pick-ups , had them for decades, the handiest things. I've just done 4 trips to the airport for relatives, 4 passengers and heaps of suitcases each time. Do that in a Nissan Leaf. A Ram would be the bees knees. It's amazing so many small-minded busy-bodies want to get involved in other people's business.
What about those driving around the country in their RV's, or towing their caravans, are you tempted to leave your petty beliefs on their property as well? One of the worst aspects of living in NZ....socialists and do-gooders telling us how we should be living our lives.
Wingman said “One of the worst aspects of living in NZ....socialists and do-gooders telling us how we should be living our lives.”
That pales in comparison to the demented ravings of the rabid right wing keyboard warrior Libertarian wannabes doing the same.
I do, however, understand that this comparison will be utterly meaningless to you due to, what I suspect, is your complete lack of insight.
Roads are shared public goods. If you decide to buy vehicles that literally don't fit on them, then rage at everyone else for upsetting your personal freedoms, its you that is in the wrong, not everyone else.
Sounds like someone was one of those kids that would pack a hissy fit if anyone touched any of his toys when he was a child. Doesn't understand that living in a civil society means adjusting your own wants to also include what is good for society too. If you want to live in a libertarian utopia, go buy some land in Galts Gulch, see how that works out.
Having owned one (of the newer shape ones, not the earlier models that were a bit of a death trap safety-wise) I can see why so many people buy the Swift.
They are so frugal - and I had the turbo petrol one, not the even-more-frugal hybrid and it was about $15-20 per week in petrol - and some of the ownership deals are so sharp from some of the dealers (e.g. the one here in Chch will give up to 10 years of servicing, WOFs etc included in the purchase price) and all of them, even the most basic spec ones, are actually damn fun and competent to drive.
I did upgrade to a larger ICE car due to a growing family. I don't do a lot of miles, I mostly bike around town, and the deal I got on a fairly desirable 'performance' ICE car was too good to turn down and I'd never make the difference back comparing new EV depreciation vs fuel cost on this car in a month of Sundays, but if a small, reliable and cheap-to-run car is what you want I can't rate anything higher than the Swift for the price point.
When the wife's Outback dies, that will be replaced by something EV/HEV though. But then again the Outback refuses to die despite having seen more action than a tank in Eastern Ukraine.
Actually the highest taxes and charges went on families with disabled children and those who have disabled partners. A lifetime of unpaid care work is very much not ego driven and when you are kicked in the teeth and denied access to most businesses and community spaces. They very much wish they could get that access any other way, except they could not because THERE ARE NO EV MOBILITY VAN VEHICLES WITH HOISTS IN NZ AVAILABLE. But it does take a lot of balls and big willies to continue to deal with a holes who think the disabled should be denied access to live, day in day out.
But isn't one reason for the lack of ICE cars being sold, because people are putting off buying them until the Ute tax is removed which will be a big saving. So it is the reverse situation to the CCD where there was a rush of EV buyers. Hybrids price usually won't change.
That this country is more focused on killing disabled access and having them commit suicide then actually considering the impact of policies like the clean car discount which severely cut access to disability vehicles, (slated for the highest level of taxes) both privately and commercially. They did this even when they knew at the time they would be taxing and harming those with no other transport options and those least able to afford the additional costs (especially since most families have to fundraise for years for their only vehicle for their only transport access to essential needs). Most disabled under 65 have less than $360 a week in income, most cannot even access the accommodation supplement and less than half can even find work, much of that paying less than $3 an hour. Many families only have enough for a second hand petrol car or essential travel only via disability mobility taxis (petrol & diesel only vans) and support for that but NOT ENOUGH TO BUY AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE THEY CANNOT EVEN ENTER THE VEHICLE IN THE FIRST PLACE. Given the govt has no intention of providing accessible public transport to the disabled or transport to hospitals and literally no city in NZ has that as of now there is very little likelihood they will ever allow access when pushing through these cuts on disabled vehicle imports and use. Even Australia has far far far better accessible transport and transport support for the disabled, Australia even recognizes carers exist and are a key support and has been recognizing they exist for decades. NZ seems to take the path that if the disabled kill themselves or die through lack of care (because food prep and bathing aid was cut off for severely young disabled recently to the point no food and no bathing support most days is common), then that is an environmentally friendly tick for them. When you are cutting disabled access and the ONLY transport option for many out then sorry mate you are the far right. Being young disabled is only to be ostracised and denied access to the city as more petrol vehicle access is removed. The loss of access to mobility vans caused far more social harm for NZders & loss of work options than any gains the clean car tax was supposed to provide.
We’re seeing market distortions all over the world as governments apply different carrot/stick approaches to getting people out of ICE and into BEV. People need to remember that NEV includes hybrids (combined petrol/electric drivetrain) that seem to be the consumers choice during this transition period.
In NZ, Tesla are a staggering -30% in unit sales when comparing calendar 2023 to 2022. They are feeling the heat of competition and the inability of people to access the cheap bank funding for EV’s that was being thrown at people 12mths ago. In fact, over the last QTR, Tesla is only the 3rd best BEV supplier behind MG and BYD. Toyota on the other hand are flying as their model lineup is dominated by hybrids and they are selling as many as they can supply.
What will be very interesting to watch will be what the EU does with the 2035 cutoff date for anything with an ICE in it and that means hybrids as well. If you look at the raw vehicle unit requirements for the EU each year, this will mean this market will need ~10m units from 2035…..no chance of that happening given all the legacy car makers can’t make BEV’s at a profit and have slowed down scaling plans as a result. That only leaves Tesla, the Chinese and the Koreans to fill the void. Forget what Toyota are saying as they won’t meaningfully enter the BEV market until they have solid state batteries worked out and they have been 2yrs away for the last decade….
Plenty of well off people buying EVs. I wonder if the savings in running cost offsets the drastic increase in insurance cost, unless of the course the NZ insurance industry hasn't woken up to the fact that even minor damage can total the car because of battery replacement cost.
When I was in NZ I was paying $1,125 insurance for my $30,000 Leaf. I loved it, so cheap to run, fast and quiet. But I've read that insurance rates for EVs in the UK have massively increased, and are also high here in Australia. For example:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/sep/30/the-quotes-were-5000-or-m…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-20/high-cost-of-insurance-for-elect…
NZ could be next. Also, RUCs are being introduced for EVs in NZ this year I believe, which will further reduce cost-effectiveness.
It gets even worse. People have accessed the $80k at 1% and bought a Tesla. The initial 1% rate only applies for 3yrs and then it goes to the card rate. Highly unlikely that people have paid down the initial loan amount and much more likely they have paid next to none of it off after 3yrs. So, they will then be adding the ~$60k outstanding loan to the mortgage and it will take a further ~15+ yrs to pay off. This also assumes they can actually refinance based on the capital increase of the house combined with the depreciated value of the vehicle. I have friends who have done this and they have less than a year before the initial low interest period is over and they are starting to get very nervous about things. They would never have purchased the Tesla without the initial cheap funding and would have bought a cheap used ICE instead and have paid it off over 3 years. I warned them not to take the cheap money but it was literally thrown at them by the bank. It’s all part of the banks ESG strategy and as such was a complete load of corporate bollocks that looks good in a market update.
I bought a plug in hybrid in 2021. I plug it in overnight and use it as a run around which only uses electricity. I probably put petrol in four times a year when I travel 250 kilometres each way. I was seriously looking at going full electric until recently however the insurance costs, lack of charging infrastructure and the very obvious rapid depreciation on used electric vehicles is putting me off. In the end who will buy it off me? Some of the used ones I am keeping an eye on have done only 15000 kilometres or so and have lost close to 40 per cent. Ands they still are not selling .
PHEV makes sense in the transition period to BEV, but make sure you move it on before the small lithium battery carks it. Age is measured in cycles for these batteries and you should move it on by 1,000 cycles. If your battery does 60km then 60,000km is 1,000 cycles worth of pure EV running.
I think this is an EV owner mentality, buy it new and shift it on early before it becomes a problem, hardly a planet saving way to go is it ? Only a few years to go now before the old EV's start piling up at the tip and heaven knows what we are going to do with all the dead batteries, probably end up stacked in fields like old car tires. Just wait until that becomes a major problem and the government will introduce a huge recycling fee.
No doubt these early generation EV’s will be a considerable environmental challenge going forward. Particularly when the current battery tech becomes yesterday’s tech and it doesn’t make sense to recycle them. I’d also be concerned about being “bricked” with something like a Tesla. Anything outside the 8yr battery warranty and Tesla don’t want to know you. I know this from personal experience advocating for a friend with a 2015 model S that developed a battery problem (its third pack) a month after the 8 year period. Tesla wanted nothing to do with it and refused to engage at all. The end result was a $50k current value vehicle being scrapped. Even that was a challenge as no one wants to deal with a car with a faulty battery.
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