Executive summary

As the world moves towards carbon neutrality, New Zealand is also looking at ways to reduce its CO2 emissions from all energy-intensive sectors.

Approximately 17% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation sector. However, more than 80% of electricity in New Zealand comes from renewable sources, including solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal. Thus, switching to electric vehicles is viewed as the ideal solution to reduce CO2 emissions.

In 2016, New Zealand’s government announced an Electric Vehicles Program, setting a target to have 64,000 electric vehicles (EVs) on the road by the end of 2021. This target was not achieved on time. However, at the end of 2022, there were 68,543 EVs on the road.