Electric vehicle (EV) registrations already exceed the target of 16,000 for the year 2019

Oliver Neighbourly Lead from One Tree Point

EV talk magazine reported recently that EV registrations already exceed the target of 16,000 for the year 2019. While it is obviously good news to reach this year's target 4 months early, the target of 32,000 EVs for 2020 will be much harder to achieve, since the EV adoption rate has now settled at a linear rate of about 500 to 600 vehicles per month, rather than doubling each year, which would be required to meet the last two targets set by the previous government and reach 64,000 EVs by the end of 2021.
Switching our vehicle fleet to electric is one of the few low-hanging fruit in our transition to a low-emissions economy, because it could remove about 17% of all our greenhouse gas emissions. While EVs don't make as much sense in many other countries, particularly those with a high percentage of electricity generated from fossil fuels, NZ is uniquely positioned to benefit big time from the switch. Our electricity generation from renewable sources has already reached 85%, and our average fossil fuel efficiency is dismal (9.5 litres/100km, compared to 4.9 litres/100km in the EU). Thus every EV in NZ that replaces a fossil-fuel car makes a much bigger positive contribution, compared to most other countries.
Of course, even an EV is still a car on the road and contributes to congestion, so we need not just cleaner, but also less cars overall. I for one hope that I've already purchased my last owned car ever, and I am looking forward to car sharing schemes, like the ones already established in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland, where I can just summon a suitable car for a fair fare whenever I need one.