New Zealand’s largest importer of Electric Vehicles (EVs), Nichibo, has announced an initiative designed to incentivise EV importation and advance EV adoption in the local market.
As of August 1, 2016 Nichibo has removed the compliance inspection costs of any electric vehicle imported by the company for its network of 300 used vehicle traders nationally. The offer will not be exclusive to Japanese imports but will be extended to EVs imported from Australia and UK, where many New Zealand registered Tesla vehicles have been sourced. The initiative will run for two years.
The cost saving to a dealer, says Nichibo, will make their importation more desirable as stock within the retail environment.
The incentive is possible through an agreement between Nichibo’s significant importation business and compliance operations, FastTrack and Motorsafe. Nichibo will also include EVs imported through Nichibo and complied through their network of participating compliance service providers.
“Our motivation is to make EV’s more affordable to the New Zealand public,” says Nichibo director, Robert Young.
Nichibo has imported close to 300 electric vehicles, almost 20 percent of the entire EV fleet in New Zealand. Used Nissan Leafs make up the largest number of EV sales month on month in New Zealand, and Young confirms there is a growing trend in EV importation.
“One of the biggest challenges to ownership of brand new EVs is the initial purchase price, that premium over an equivalent petrol car isn’t offset by the fuel savings you experience with EV technology. A high quality used option, like those Nichibo sources for its clients, improves the whole of life cost proposition of an EV massively.”
“It’s very much a have your cake and eat it too situation. More and more environmentally conscious buyers are taking advantage of this,” says Young.
Excluding plug-in and conventional hybrid vehicles, in 2016 the used EV market is double the size of the new EV market and growing. When comparing Ministry of Transport statistics of average CO2 emissions from new petrol and diesel vehicles, Nichibo’s current contribution to the EV fleet saves approximately 850 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere per year.
Nichibo is also the national distributor for Mahindra new vehicles. A brand quickly emerging as an EV superpower globally. India has stated they wish to shift 100 percent to electric vehicles by 2030, as the country’s largest automaker, Mahindra is mass producer of Electric city cars and small commercials.
They confirmed their expertise in EV technology when they became a founding manufacturer in the FIA Formula E racing series. Robert Young was in London last month to see the brand take the podium for the first time.
“Mahindra is a fledgling brand in New Zealand, but the Formula E series shows we are capable of competing and beating well-known brands, the learnings we take from Formula E are fed into future models, so we have an exciting time ahead of us. The e2o EV city car was recently launched in the UK and we’ll review that model for suitability in New Zealand. Our vision is to offer the lowest cost entry into new EV passenger cars in New Zealand, I’m confident we can deliver on that in the not-to-distant future.”
