The year 2020 by numbers - of cars!

I was asked recently what percentage of car sales were EVs in New Zealand in the 2020 calendar year – and you would like to think that that percentage should trip off the tongue when analysing/debating the penetration of EVs in our corner of the world, and so I embarked on finding the relevant data.

Although I could find the NZTA numbers of registrations by month for EVs, (Ministry of Transport website)  I struggled to find the total number of car registrations, new and used, ICE and EV for the year 2020.

But, as you know, its not what you know that counts but who you know that can offer you the exact information you require!  Sigurd Magnusson (Senior Advisor, Emissions, Environment, Adaptation, Ministry of Transport) was just the man for the data. Sig's credentials in the EV space are legendary as I am sure you know - check out his EV Guide at www.electricheaven.nz when you have a moment!

So he gave me these numbers - a total of 234,592 light vehicle registrations were made in 2020 – both new and used.

Of that total about 120,000 were used imports - both ICE and EV

The category totals are as follows:

Total hybrids registered – 25,012 – roughly 11%

Total PHEVs registered – 1,458 – under 1%

Total BEVs registered – 3883 – 1.65%

So total cars with plugs sold in 2020 is 5,331 – remembering that 2020 was hardly the poster child for normality!