'Unprecedented' surge of interest in electric vehicles after petrol price hike
Monday, 14 March 2022
Electric vehicle dealers say they are experiencing “unprecedented” demand for cars after fuel prices have shot up, adding just one extra stressor as Kiwis enter a cost of living crisis.
Petrol prices have soared since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. Prices at most fuel stations nationwide have now topped $3 a litre.
On Monday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a raft of measures to counter that, including cutting fuel taxes, road user charges, and public transport fares.
The Government will cut fuel taxes by 25c a litre for the next three months – and halve public transport fares. For petrol, the changes will take effect at 11.59pm Monday and could save up to $17 for a tank of fuel.
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Dave Boot from EV City in Sydenham, Christchurch said they would normally sell 60 cars throughout a month. Over the past weekend, he sold 30.
“It’s been biblical,” he said. “There’s probably not enough superlatives I could use to describe the pandemonium or mayhem.”
Some customers were coming in and would stand next to a car with their hand on it to claim it, Boot said, adding that he had never seen this before.
“There was a situation where we had a young guy at the front of the queue and he just couldn’t decide between two colours,” Boot said.
“A lady behind him said: ‘Hurry up mate, we’re all in this together, we’re all trying to buy them, just make your decision and get out of everyone’s way’.”
Boot said the surge, which he noticed about a week ago, was down to fuel prices – people were trading in their gas guzzlers.
“No-one’s an environmentalist until it hurts them in the pocket,” he said. “People are telling us horror stories about spending $300 to fill it, and that’s a week worth of motoring.”
Boot said the Nissan Leaf was his most popular seller, as at around $20,000 it was “the most affordable by far”.
There were similar tales across the country.
Autolink EV in Auckland was completely out of stock, their office manager said.
“We’ve sold 39 since Saturday morning… It’s just manic.
“I’ve worked [here] for 26 years and we’ve never sold so many cars, not even last year when the subsidy came into effect.”
On Monday another two or three enquiries landed in her inbox every time she stepped away from her computer.
“We’ve never seen anything like it, it hasn’t stopped since Saturday morning.”
Aaron Musgrove, dealer principal at Gazley Motors in Wellington, said they'd had “massive sales” over the weekend of pure EVs and had also seen a significant increase in hybrid enquiries.
“For us to sell eight EVs in one day is quite a lot in comparison to normal, but the volume of enquiry was through the roof.”
The team had put the increased demand down to rising fuel prices as well as ships soon to arrive, he said.
While the Bayswater Group in Napier hadn't noticed a particular change in recent days, its chief executive Paul Brown said there had been increased interest in EVs over the last year or so, driven by a range of factors including the clean car feebate scheme.
“There's been a heightened appetite for EVs for some time.”
While he was hearing more from people about fuel costs, he felt many were also choosing to 'sit tight, and wait'.
David Crawford, chief executive of the Motor Industry Association, said last week the war in Ukraine was a blow to an industry already feeling stress from almost all new vehicles being subject to stock problems.
And, interest in EVs had grown in recent weeks because of the rising fuel prices, he said.
“There is no doubt that heightened fuel prices have increased the number of enquiries about (these) low emission vehicles. I am receiving that feedback from distributors.”
Bike shop owners say they already had high demand for e-bikes, but since petrol prices went up, it was a struggle to keep up with demand.
Dan Mikkelsen of Wellington's Bicycle Junction said the impact of the fuel price hikes was “immediate” with their store “slammed” by customers on Saturday morning.
“It’s like people woke up to the news and thought ‘I’m going to the bike shop’.”
It's part of wider trend since the pandemic began, he says.
About 75,000 e-bikes and e-scooters were imported in 2021, up from 23,000 in 2017, according to Stats NZ, with growth rates suggesting they could overtake new passenger car sales within the next few years.
“I expect we will see prices of e-bikes continue to rise over the coming year. Biking still remains cheaper for people with an urban commute, however. No parking, no fuel, no traffic.”
Tony Harding, of Cranked Cycles in Napier, has been selling e-bikes for 16 years. “Demand is huge. We can't keep up,” he said.
More customers were talking about fuel prices, and he thought it would likely lead to increased demand.
Getting e-bikes was especially challenging, with Harding having placed orders out to 2024.
“I wish I could get twice as many as I’m getting”, he said, as they would easily sell.