I recently reported to CleanTechnica readers about the surge in EV sales in Australia. It appears the same thing is happening in New Zealand, with second-hand and demo EVs being snapped up and car yards emptying out. Here is one revealing photo: Empty car yard in NZ. Photo courtesy Steven Greenwood. Car yards are advertising for second-hand stock. Thanks to Steven Greenwood for the info. More can be seen on his website. This morning, Warren Willmot, General Manager for BYD in NZ, spoke to me in a phone interview. He was most generous with his information. He was responding to the request I had put on Facebook about the rumours of car yards empty of electric vehicles. “Hi all, I am hearing rumours of empty EV car lots and dealers running out of stock. Anyone got photos or stories they would like to share for an article for CleanTechnica? Many thanks, David.” He spoke to me from the dealership where he and his staff were showing prospective buyers various BYD models and taking orders. He told me that a good salesman would sell about 20 EVs a month, while last month he sold 87. That’s just one salesman at one dealership. “Before the war we would sell 300 BYDs a month. Now we are selling 200–300 in a weekend, nationally. Not only that, but resale value has increased. The value of a used Atto 3 has risen $3,000–5,000 New Zealand dollars in the last 3 weeks. “Last month BYD was the #4 selling brand in NZ. If I had another 2,000 cars, I would have sold them.” Busy BYD dealership in NZ. Photo courtesy Warren Willmot I asked about stock going forward. Warren tells me he has 300 cars arriving in April and another 600 arriving, hopefully, in May. “Shipping may be a difficulty, but BYD is backing the New Zealand market. Mr Liu, BYD’s General Manager for Asia and Pacific, has promised to take cars from other countries if necessary. Perhaps from Thailand & Singapore, where appropriate.” Warren says he will continue to order large and is promising new customers a 90 day delivery date. All cars that will be arriving in April and May (900) have been spoken for. But remember, China has plenty of production capacity. There is no limit on what he can order. The only limit is on what can fit on the ships. Why the surge? “It’s not the cost of fuel, it’s the thought that they might not be able to drive, either because of petrol availability or government regulations,” he tells me. Petrol in Auckland is approximately NZ$3.50, and has increased 25% in the last month. Dealers who carry a variety of brands are telling Warren that BYD is enjoying a higher order rate than other competing brands. BYD is selling as many PHEVs as BEVs as people free themselves from the pump. Meanwhile, Facebook was pinging with notifications from people wanting to share their EV scarcity stories. Here’s a great comment putting the current low stock level of EVs into a historical perspective: “David Waterworth, when considering that new and used EV sales have clearly risen in the period since the USA and Israel started their war with Iran, bear in mind that new EV stock loadings here in particular were very modest, due to the market being massively depressed over the two years since incentives curtailed. Used prices in that period also reflected large scale NZ disinterest during that period. There’s no doubt the sector has suddenly jolted back into life, but from a low base.” Here is a selection of other comments: “We are a car dealership in Christchurch. This month we sold 168 EVs . It’s been pretty wild, with all our cars being sold. We have our 1903 antique EV, XRAY, the cut in half LEAF … and empty space. “Soon… The Deliveries begin! The Old car — Fully drivable! We took it through the McDonalds drive-thru. You can see the video here.” No stock on the display floor. Photo courtesy Jordan Wyatt. What will the dealership use the car sales floor for? “Seriously, we are thinking of a Pickleball court.” Other witty suggestions included a remote control track or break dancing. We’ve sold 168 cars this month, compared to a usual ~40. See: Video of empty car yard in NZ. If it was for sale, probably could have sold this antique electric car also. Photo courtesy Jordan Wyatt “Both Tesla and BYD have reportedly run out of stock in NZ.” This provoked a response from Warren Willmot: “we (BYD NZ) have plenty on the way and secured stock from other countries.” “For my wife, we went to 8 dealers for an EV. All run out and sold. You can preorder new, but shipment mostly due in end of May to July. Used car lot — all good ones are gone. Old Model S and old LEAFs there, but overpriced and unreliable.” Well, hopefully this war is over soon and then people still decide to get off fossil fuels “Yeah, Honda running out. I’m so glad I got my E N1 … picked up yesterday!” “I went EV shopping in Auckland three days ago. In the 45,000 dollar price range every single brand was sold out.” Jaecoo J5 and Omoda E5, Dongfeng, mostly sold out. BYD new stock arriving. Tesla too busy to communicate. Nissan Leaf Xray. Photo courtesy Jordan Wyatt. Want to look at all the stats? Head over to James at EVDB New Zealand who tells us that EV sales have increased by 278% compared with March 2025. In March 2026, plugin penetration in New Zealand reached 26% — the same level as 2023 when government incentives were in place. Add to this the 617 imported used EVs (Nissan LEAFs from Japan) and the figures get even better. James points out that EVs have passed a turning point and can no longer be regarded as a fad. A good example is the fact that the Tesla Model Y L allocation sold out in ten days. After a halving of EV sales when government incentives were cut, it now looks like NZ is back on track towards a bright electric motoring future!