WELLINGTON, March 20 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand's uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) has overtaken Australia as infrastructure spreads, Transport Minister Simon Bridges said Monday.
"I am delighted with the number of EV registrations we are now seeing. This year there has been 517 EV registrations bringing the total number of EVs in New Zealand to 3005. With nine months to go we are already half way to achieving our 2017 target," Bridges said in a statement.
"While 1,513 EVs were registered in New Zealand in 2016, in Australia only about 220 EVs were."
More new models were coming on to the market and interest was growing among manufacturers, with both Hyundai Ioniq and Tesla recently announcing their entry into New Zealand.
"There's also been a big increase in the models and quantity of used EVs being brought into New Zealand. This means more EVs, at a range of prices, giving more choice to New Zealander's when they decide to step up on this," Bridges said.
Infrastructure and charging stations were expanding across the country to support the growing number of EVs on our roads.
About 50 fast chargers were available throughout the length of the country and more were coming, giving EV drivers greater confidence on longer journeys.
"Electric vehicles are the future. A move from petrol and diesel to low-emission transport is a natural evolution," Bridges said.
Driving an electric vehicle in New Zealand produced 80 percent fewer carbon emissions than a petrol or diesel car due to New Zealand's abundant renewable electricity.
In May 2016, the government announced a package of measures to encourage the uptake of EVs, with a target to double the fleet each year to 64,000 by the end of 2021.
In October last year, the government announced the number of registered EVs had doubled over the previous year, hitting 1,003, compared with 500 in 2015.
