James at EVDB sent out a news update for electric vehicle (EV) data, and there was a slight surprise in the top 15 list this month. Normally, there's a Tesla at the top, or a BYD, but for October, a fair few Ford Mustang Mach-Es were registered:
| Rank | Electric Vehicle Model | Registrations (units) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford Mustang Mach-E | 143 |
| 2 | BYD Atto 3 | 59 |
| 3 | Tesla Model Y | 48 |
| 4 | MG 4 | 35 |
| 5 | Volkswagen ID.5 | 34 |
| 6 | Skoda Enyaq | 28 |
| 7 | Polestar 2 | 27 |
| 8 | Nissan Leaf | 26 |
| 9 | Kia EV9 | 24 |
| 10 | Mini Aceman | 21 |
| 11 | Volkswagen ID.4 | 18 |
| 12 | Lexus RZ 450e | 17 |
| 13 | Cupra Born | 13 |
| 14 | Mini Countryman | 11 |
| 15 | BYD Dolphin | 11 |
Source: NZTA - NZ new battery electric vehicle registrations by number of units.
This is due to "extremely competitive dealer-only pricing" which a quick check suggests is the case, with decent sized discounts being advertised.
Other than that though, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are slow to sell, with 2023 models still on dealer lots. It probably is a perception issue more than anything else as James suggests, with government policies - which about a year ago boosted the market substantially - creating a negative sentiment around BEVs, hurting their market share.
Economic uncertainty doesn't help either, ditto potentially higher insurance costs for BEVs.
Nevertheless, the one-eighty the Government pulled on clean cars has turned New Zealand into an outlier in the world, where global EV sales continue to grow fast.
(Chart from the International Energy Agency.)
Increased EV sales will encourage car makers to create new models, giving buyers more choice of tailpipe emission-less motoring. Buyers in other countries than New Zealand, that is, as our decarbonisation of transport plans seem to have taken a back seat.
*Foster appeared on our Of Interest podcast in June. You can listen here: EVDB's James Foster on what's required for the next big move in electric vehicle uptake
27 Comments
This article is too curtailed to be useful.
Firstly, 'normal'?
Secondly - can any EV-based society be maintained long term?
And no, I'm not advocating fossil vehicles - they're temporary too.
https://tupa.gtk.fi/julkaisu/bulletin/bt_416.pdf
That link says EVs are the right answer to the wrong question.
Given the rumoured discounts on the Fords, it proves that if you can discount something enough, you'll find buyers. The Mustang EV has also had some good reviews and has a well-established dealer network, which has to help, and the blue oval badge comes without the baggage of many other brands.
BEVs are only a transitional solution, and people may sense that and be wary of being caught in a technological cul-de-sac, so sales are slow, and our bloody awful charger network can't help. They're also very expensive for the utility they provide, heavy and overloaded with complex gadgets, and I think a lot of people are turned off by those things.
Better technological, social, infrastructure and planning solutions for personal transport will arise, as the energy density and consumption of scarce materials in BEV current technology, and the charging network, isn't commercially sustainable.
What the social/planning/infrastructure parts will look like I don't know, but I'd guess the energy part will involve the storage of some form of Hydrogen carrier. Check back with me in 10 years.
Common sense says: Dont buy at the early stage of the development curve of any tech product. EVs are just a PC on wheels. Wait and you will be rewarded with much cheaper prices.
And they are already bootstrapped, no need for the NZ govt to throw money at this despite what Juha seems to think.
Nevertheless, the one-eighty the Government pulled on clean cars has turned New Zealand into an outlier in the world, where global EV sales continue to grow fast.
Yay! We lead the world at being backwards, once again. Then we will wonder in the future how we got it so wrong again.
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