Best-selling electric cars in 2018
The future of motoring will be electrified. Which were the models that made an impact in New Zealand? David Linklater reports.
If words were registrations, Kiwi roads would be abuzz with electric vehicles right now. They’re not. While EVs were certainly the talk of 2018, we’re still just starting to embrace them in the new-car market.
So let’s take a look at the topselling electrified vehicles of 2018 in New Zealand.
That’s right, ‘‘electrified’’, which means we’re counting not just plug-ins but also petrolelectric hybrids.
While a car has to be able to charge from an external power source to be an Electric Vehicle (EV) in the eyes of the New Zealand Government, non-plug-in hybrids (or . . . ‘‘hybrids’’ as we call them) are still an important part of the eco-car mix.
More to the point, when most carmakers talk about their burgeoning electric futures they are in fact talking about a mix of plug-in and conventional hybrid vehicles.
Although that fact is often not clearly represented by the companies themselves – or indeed EVangelists.
The total New Zealand newvehicle market for 2018 was a record-breaking 161,519. Of those, just 3682 were electrified: a little more than 2 per cent of the total.
Petrol-electric hybrids were the most popular type: 2140 registrations. These are vehicles that have an internal combustion engine supported by a small battery-electric drive system – but they do not have a plug that allows those batteries to be charged separately.
Pure-electric cars were next at 787 registrations. Sometimes called Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), these do not have any power source other than electricity.
BEVs were followed by petrol Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) at 703. A PHEV can be externally charged and run on pure-electric power, but also has a combustion engine to allow it to operate like a hybrid.
But wait, there’s more! Two more electrified engine types, in fact. ‘‘Range extender’’ vehicles are driven only by electricity (like a BEV), but they do have a combustion engine on board that acts as a generator, producing electricity when the batteries are depleted.
There’s only one vehicle of this type on sale in New Zealand: a version of the BMW i3, which clocked up 40 registrations.
Last and possibly most quirky, the diesel PHEV. Yes, there is such a thing: Audi’s Q7 e-tron SUV, of which 12 examples were sold last year.
What’s clear from the numbers is that a few high-performing brands and/or cars are carrying their respective categories.
Hybrids would be nowhere without Toyota (which has been working with the technology for two decades now), Hyundai is carrying the BEV banner and if it wasn’t for the Mitsubishi Outlander and Toyota Prius Prime, the PHEV market would look especially lean.
That will presumably change as the global market becomes more electrified and makers bring the technology further into the mainstream.
But for now, here are the models that made an impact last year in New Zealand.
Top 10 electrified vehicles 2015-18
❚ Toyota Camry: 506 (hybrid)
❚ Kia Niro: 456 (hybrid and PHEV)
❚ Toyota Corolla: 379 (hybrid)
❚ Toyota Prius C: 362 (hybrid)
❚ Hyundai Ioniq: 342 (BEV, PHEV and hybrid)
❚ Mitsubishi Outlander: 300 (PHEV)
❚ Toyota Prius: 174 (PHEV and hybrid)
❚ Tesla Model X: 146 (BEV)
❚ Tesla Model S: 108 (BEV)
❚ Volkswagen Golf: 109 (BEV)
Top five hybrids
❚ Toyota Camry: 506
❚ Kia Niro: 410
❚ Toyota Corolla: 379
❚ Toyota Prius C: 362
❚ Lexus NX: 100
Top five battery electric vehicles
❚ Hyundai Ioniq: 211
❚ Tesla Model X: 146
❚ Volkswagen Golf: 109
❚ Tesla Model S: 108
❚ Hyundai Kona: 106
Top five plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
❚ Mitsubishi Outlander: 300
❚ Toyota Prius: 133
❚ Hyundai Ioniq: 66
❚ Kia Niro: 46
❚ Mini Countryman: 42