The cheapest electric car you can buy in NZ right now is a 2011 Nissan Leaf 24 kWh with 109,000 km, asking $4,500 at Lambo Wholesale. Below: the ten cheapest EVs you can see today, the cheapest of each popular model and what each budget buys, all from live listings. Updated 7 November 2026.
Cars in NZ today, cheapest first, any make. Cars still on their way are listed separately below. Battery health is as the seller reported it; a dash means they didn’t state one, which is worth asking about.
| # | Car | Asking price |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2011 Nissan Leaf 24 kWh109,000 km · Lambo Wholesale | $4,500 |
| 2 | 2017 Nissan Leaf 30 kWh112,038 km · 75% battery · The Car Company Nelson |
Every EV under $20k on Electric Dreams, cheapest first, with battery health and range on every card so you can buy on the numbers.
| $8,495 |
| 3 | 2018 Nissan Leaf 40 kWh100,500 km · 80% battery · olGo Motors | $11,430 |
| 4 | 2015 BMW i392,200 km · olGo Motors | $11,730 |
| 5 | 2018 Nissan Leaf 40 kWh46,400 km · 85% battery · olGo Motors | $13,930 |
| 6 | 2018 Nissan Leaf 40 kWh68,405 km · Kerry Harvey Autos | $14,995 |
| 7 | 2017 Nissan Leaf 30 kWh79,270 km · 87% battery · Devonport Car Co | $15,990 |
| 8 | 2018 Nissan Leaf 40 kWh35,059 km · 82% battery · Stadium Cars | $15,990 |
| 9 | 2021 Nissan Leaf 40 kWh59,500 km · 82% battery · Lambo Wholesale | $16,990 |
| 10 | 2023 Mitsubishi eK X EV20,994 km · 90% battery · EV City | $16,990 |
Get told when an EV lists under $25kWe check every 15 minutes and email you the moment one matches. Or set it lower: under $15k · under $20k.
Alert me under $25kThe cheapest car in NZ today for each model budget buyers ask about, with the Leaf split by battery size, and a cheaper arriving-soon car where there is one. The median shows once 3 or more are listed.
| Model | Cheapest now | |
|---|---|---|
| Nissan Leaf 24 kWh1 live · 2011 · 109,000 km | $4,500 | |
| Nissan Leaf 30 kWh4 live · 2017 · 112,038 km · median $16,990 | $8,495or $8,430 arriving | |
| Nissan Leaf 40 kWh39 live · 2018 · 100,500 km · median $19,990 | $11,430 | |
| Nissan Leaf 62 kWh e+29 live · 2019 · 131,500 km · median $23,295 | $17,930 | |
| MG421 live · 2023 · 86,500 km · median $38,990 | $29,990 | |
| MG ZS EV2 live · 2021 · 91,682 km | $20,980 | |
| BYD Atto 312 live · 2023 · 59,728 km · median $40,995 | $35,980 | |
| Hyundai Kona Electric4 live · 2021 · 63,763 km · median $42,938 | $29,980 | |
| Hyundai Ioniq0 live | None listed right now. Get alerted | |
| Peugeot e-2084 live · 2020 · 48,200 km · median $27,460 | $24,730 | |
2 EVs in NZ ask under $10k. Expect mostly Nissan Leaf 24 kWh and Nissan Leaf 30 kWh from 2011 to 2017. 1 more is due in soon at that price.
6 EVs in NZ ask under $15k, 4 of them between $10k and $15k. In that range, expect mostly Nissan Leaf 40 kWh and BMW i3 from 2015 to 2018. 20 more are due in soon at that price.
42 EVs in NZ ask under $20k, 36 of them between $15k and $20k. In that range, expect mostly Nissan Leaf 40 kWh and Nissan Leaf 62 kWh e+ from 2017 to 2023, with a median battery health of 86 percent. 58 more are due in soon at that price.
73 EVs in NZ ask under $25k, 31 of them between $20k and $25k. In that range, expect mostly Nissan Leaf 62 kWh e+ and Nissan Leaf 40 kWh from 2015 to 2024, with a median battery health of 89 percent. 98 more are due in soon at that price.
Battery health sets the price. At the bottom of the market two cars of the same year can be thousands apart, and the battery is usually why. Ask for the state-of-health figure: a Leaf shows it as a 12-bar gauge beside the charge meter, and a LeafSpy report is better still. Above 85 percent is healthy; below 70 percent means noticeably shorter range, and the price should reflect it.
Age matters in other ways too. Most sub-$15k EVs are Japanese imports from 2013 to 2017, well past their factory warranty. Check the import and service history, and look at how the car fast-charges: Leafs use CHAdeMO, which most NZ public fast chargers still offer, but check the sites on the routes you drive.
Road user charges are the same for everyone. Since April 2024 battery EVs pay RUC like diesels: $76 per 1,000 km (NZTA rate, checked 4 October 2026), so about $760 a year at 10,000 km. It is the same per kilometre whether the car cost $10k or $60k, which makes it a bigger share of the running cost on a cheap EV. When you buy, check the RUC label on the windscreen: it shows the odometer reading the car is paid up to, so you know whether you are inheriting credit or a debt.
The 24 kWh Leaf trap. The cheapest listings are often 2011 to 2015 Leafs with the original 24 kWh pack, rated at under 200 km when new. After a decade, many manage well under 100 km of real driving, and a replacement pack usually costs more than the car is worth. One can still be a great town car if the battery health and your daily distance fit, but buy it on the battery figure, not the price. Leaf battery health by generation shows what each pack is doing on the market today.
A short read on each of the cheapest models, in price order, with the live numbers underneath.
The car that made used EVs affordable in NZ. Japanese imports arrive with 24, 30, 40 or 62 kWh packs, and the price tracks the pack and its state of health more than the model year. A 40 kWh car with a healthy battery covers most daily driving; the older 24 kWh cars are cheap for a reason, so read the battery health figure before the odometer.
73 live · from $4,500 · median asking $19,990 · battery health 87% (n=67) · plus 109 arriving soon
The e-208's small-SUV twin on the same 50 kWh platform, with a higher seat and a bigger boot. Expect to pay a little more than the hatch for the same year.
6 live · from $25,430 · median asking $26,905 · plus 5 arriving soon
A 50 kWh French supermini sold new in NZ, so used examples are NZ-new cars with a local service history rather than imports. Once the Leaf is off the table, this is usually the cheapest way into a modern EV under five years old.
4 live · from $24,730 · median asking $27,460 · plus 3 arriving soon
A rear-wheel-drive hatch that undercut everything on launch in 2023, with 51 or 64 kWh packs. Used prices follow the new price down, which makes it a strong buy and a weak hold.
21 live · from $29,990 · median asking $38,990
The cheapest Tesla and the entry point to the Supercharger network. Rear-wheel-drive Standard Range cars from 2019 to 2021 are where the value sits; the Tesla Index breaks the price down by model year.
9 live · from $34,990 · median asking $39,990 · plus 5 arriving soon
The compact SUV that launched BYD in NZ, with a 60 kWh Blade battery (LFP chemistry, which is happy being charged to 100 percent). Early 2022 and 2023 cars now sit well under their new price.
12 live · from $35,980 · median asking $40,995 · battery health 94% (n=3)
On the used market, the Nissan Leaf: its median asking price on Electric Dreams is $19,990 across 73 live listings, against $26,905 for the next-cheapest model, the Peugeot e-2008. The cheapest one you can buy today is a 2011 Nissan Leaf · 109,000 km asking $4,500. At the very bottom of the market, price tracks battery health more than year, so the cheapest car is rarely the best value.
Right now 42 of the 297 EVs you can buy in NZ today ask $20k or less, and 2 ask under $10k, with another 58 under $20k on the way. Most of them are Nissan Leaf 40 kWh and Nissan Leaf 62 kWh e+ cars. The median asking price across every live EV is $36,993, so under $20k is firmly the budget end. Browse every EV under $20k, cheapest first.
Less than the folklore suggests. Across the 37 sub-$20k listings that state a battery health figure, the median is 86 percent. The rule of thumb: on a Leaf, anything above 85 percent is healthy, 75 to 85 is fine for town driving with shorter range, and below 70 needs a price to match. Always ask for the state-of-health figure (a Leaf shows it as a 12-bar gauge; a LeafSpy reading is better), and see Leaf battery health by generation on the Leaf Index to place a figure against the market.
156 of the 453 live EVs are dealer stock that has been bought and is on its way, usually on a ship from Japan. The asking price is set and the car can be reserved now, which is why they’re included here, but you can’t test drive one this week. That’s why the tables above lead with cars already here and list the cheaper arriving ones separately.
Cheapest and best are different questions. If you want the case for each model rather than the price alone, read the best second hand electric cars in NZ, and if the brief is a city car, see small electric cars compared on size, price and range. Both start from the used EVs hub.
They’re computed from live Electric Dreams listings and refresh every hour, so the page always reflects what’s actually for sale. For the whole market, see electric car prices in NZ by make and model on the EV Market Index; for the next step up, what $30k–$50k buys beyond the big names on the Mid-Range Index.
The page covers the 453 active EV listings on Electric Dreams and refreshes hourly. Prices are asking prices, not sale prices. The ten-cheapest table and the cheapest-by-model table show individual listings, each linked so the figure can be checked in one click; Leaf battery size comes from the model year and the pack the seller states. Medians, not means, are used everywhere else, so one mis-keyed listing can’t move a figure, and a median only appears once 3 or more priced listings back it. Listings asking under $2,000 are treated as placeholder prices and left out. Battery health is as reported by sellers, used only where it falls between 40 and 100 percent, and only published where 3 or more listings state it; most sellers of cars other than the Leaf don’t report it, which is why the column is often a dash. The tables and bands count cars in NZ now (297 priced); arriving-soon dealer stock (156 of 453 right now) is shown separately and never as the headline. Makes and models are resolved against our EV catalog. Sold and withdrawn cars are excluded: this is a snapshot of what’s listed on Electric Dreams, not the whole NZ market.
