Electric car sales more than double in one year

The number of plug-in electric cars registered has more than doubled in the year to the end of June.

• This story was first published by RNZ

The Motor Industry Association said there were 1641 battery powered electric vehicles registered, compared with only 611 at the same time last year.

Chief executive David Crawford said the introduction of the clean car discount, which started this month, has encouraged buyers.

Although sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles fell slightly, he expected that to change due to the clean car discount.

"I think people delayed those few weeks and when we do the July figures in August I'm expecting to see a jump in EV sales and plug in hybrid electric vehicles," he said.

Meanwhile, June was a record month for SUV sales which rose 39 percent compared to June last year.

Overall the number of car registrations jumped in June, but buyers were facing a wait of up to five months to get behind the wheel of their new vehicles.

Figures from the Motor Industry Association show 6822 more cars were registered this June compared to last, a rise of 82 percent.

Crawford said shipping delays meant car yards had lengthy waiting lists.

"The car yards are the emptiest I've seen in the time that I've been in this job which is coming up to nine years. The level of stock holding in the country at the moment is the lowest I've seen."

He said customers were waiting between three to five months to receive their cars.