New Zealand’s pure electric vehicle sales are at a record level for the first quarter of the year and are set to at least doubles sales compared with 2020.

For the first quarter, 862 electric vehicles (BEV) were sold in New Zealand with Tesla’s Model 3 the front runner with 385 registrations followed by MG’s ZS EV (141) and Hyundai’s Kona at 82.

Leading the premium/luxury brand is Porsche with 42 sales of the Taycan, Audi was in second spot with 48 e-trons sold, and Mercedes-Benz’s EQC had 35 registrations.

For the first quarter of 2020, 410 BEVs were sold, with the Model 3 again dominating sales and a total of 1533 electric cars sold last year.

 But with an increase in new BEVs to the market this year, including Mazda’s MX-30, more variants of the e-tron and Taycan, Mercedes, Volvo and BMW adding to their electric fleet, and more stock from MG arriving for the large demand by Kiwis for the Chinese brand.

In March 2021, there were 424 pure electric vehicles registered. This could mean BEV sales in 2021 double or even triple as supply to New Zealand improves due to more factories back at 100% production after Covid.