2024 electric car sales in Australia: A deep dive into the state of the EV market led by Tesla and BYD
EV sales tell an interesting story about the car market, which has adjusted its pace of growth in 2024.
Sales of electric cars continue to grow, but not in the triple-digit numbers we experienced throughout 2022 and 2023.
Still, with growth of 18 percent in the first half of 2024 there’s plenty of interest in electric cars.
A total of 50,918 EVs were sold in the first six months of 2024, representing 8 percent of the new car market.
We’ve delved through the sales figures to look for the trends and changes.
Half of all mid-sized sedans/wagons/hatches are now EV
EVs are now the dominant force in the mid-sized passenger car market, which includes some big names such as the Mazda6, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3-Series. Of the 34,425 sold in the first six months 17,052 were powered solely by electricity. That means 49.5 per cent – almost half – of all medium sedans and wagons were fully electric. The Tesla Model 3 (10,600 sales) and BYD Seal (4092) do the bulk of the heavy lifting, but the BMW i4 (1177) comfortably outsells its petrol-powered 4-Series alternative (168) and is tantalising close to outselling the 3-Series (1511). Throw in 950 sales of the Polestar 2 and it starts to stack up. And looking at prestige and luxury models priced over $60,000 it’s EVs that have the clear win, making up 71 percent of sales.
EVs making an impact in the limo market
Those chasing a bit of luxury are embracing electricity. The formerly dominant Mercedes-Benz S-Class is now a sales minnow, with just 15 sold in the first six months. It was outdone by the all-electric BMW i7 limousine. And the top seller in the class? That’ll be the Porsche Panamera, which is available with a plug-in hybrid (although only one of the 30 first-half sales was a PHEV).
Large electric SUVs have found some buyer love
The Kia EV9 may not quite be selling in the numbers the brand had hoped for (313 in the first six months) but it’s outdone some luxury rivals along the way. They include the Land Rover Discovery (273), Lexus LX (256), Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen (224) and another large luxury seven-seat SUV rival in the Mercedes-Benz EQS (68).
13% of all mid-sized SUVs are EV; almost half of all luxury models are EV
With 12,516 first-half sales the Tesla Model Y is the third best selling SUV in the country, outdone only by the Toyota RAV4 (24,505, 98 percent of which were hybrid) and Mitsubishi Outlander (14,443 and 17 percent of those were for the PHEV). The Model Y accounts for the bulk of the 18,434 mid-sized electric SUV sales and contributed to 13 percent of all medium SUVs being electric. Carve out the prestige and luxury segments – those priced above $60,000 – and 49.4 percent of them were EV.
Large electric SUVs are picking up pace
Electricity is gaining traction in the large SUV segment. Of 12,811 sold 2383 – or 18.6 percent – were EVs. It helps that the Kia EV6 is classified as a large SUV (whereas the EV9 is an upper large SUV) as it was the top selling large SUV powered only by electricity, with 1060 sales. The Ford Mustang Mach-E also gets large SUV classification status, chiming in with 326 sales. But the Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV (516), BMW iX (255), Audi e-tron (112) and Lexus RX (109) also helped out.
EV vans are a tough sell
Commercial vehicles are still a struggle when it comes to EV sales. Despite various options – including the LDV eDeliver 7, Mercedes-Benz eVito and electric versions of the Renault Kangoo and Peugeot Partner – there were just 191 electric vans sold in the first half. That means diesel and petrol still dominates, accounting for 98.6 percent of van sales.
One in 10 small hatches/sedans/wagons now electric
If you think small cars aren’t well suited to EV then think again. We’re talking small hatches, sedans and wagons, rather than SUVs. But of 49,062 sold from January to June 10.5 percent were EV, with the BYD Dolphin, MG4, Cupra Born and GWM Ora doing the heavy lifting. And of those priced over $40,000 the top seller was the all-electric MG4 (2771 sales).
Volvo EV sales growing fast
Despite a resurgence in hybrid interest Volvo is still rocketing ahead on sales of battery electric vehicles. While Volvo sales slid 25 percent in the first six months of 2024, 43 percent of the 4741 cars it sold were EVs. Since it arrived in April the top seller for Volvo has been the EV-only EX30, accounting for 1001 sales, or more than one third of sales since its hit the market. Early interest – acknowledging there is pent-up demand for what is a cool-looking and competitively priced EV – also has the EX30 outselling the likes of the hybrid-only Lexus LBX (670 for the full six months), Mercedes-Benz GLA (1011 for the first six months, or 692 for the past three months) and EQA (624 for the first six months) and even the Kia Niro (199 for six months).
Almost one in three BMWs now EV
BMW is ahead of its German rivals on EV sales largely due to the focus on positioning six cars below the luxury car tax threshold (they are the iX1 eDrive20, iX1 xDrive30, iX2 eDrive 20, iX2 xDrive30, i4 eDrive35 and iX3 M Sport). Of 13,641 BMWs sold in the first six months 29 percent were electric. The top-selling EV for BMW was the iX1, with 1237 sales, accounting for more than half of all X1 sales. It was followed by the i4 (1177), which comfortably outsold its petrol-powered 4-Series siblings (383 for the two-door models and 168 for the four-door Gran Coupe that uses the same body as the i4). Then came the iX3 with 584 sales, or 31 percent of X3 sales. The newly-arrived iX2 (428 sales) was the top seller in the X2 range, accounting for 59 percent of sales. All of which shows what’s possible when you get the pricing and positioning of EVs right.
BYD continues to grow
Relative newcomer BYD continues to post respectable sales figures, with 9548 sales in the first six months. While 482 of those are for the plug-in hybrid Sealion 6, the remainder are EV only, with the Atto 3 the brand’s top seller (3726 sales). That makes BYD the 17th best selling brand on the market, ahead of some big names such as Honda (8705), Skoda (2946) and Jeep (1282).
Tesla’s EV share now below 50%, but brand is still a top 10 seller
Tesla is still by far the best selling EV brand in the country, logging 23,116 sales in the first six months. But for the first time Tesla’s share of EV sales has slipped below 50 percent. In total 50,918 EVs were reported as sold in the first six months, giving Tesla 45 percent of the market. And for the first time Tesla’s overall sales slid, down 9.6 percent year to date. But Tesla is still the tenth best selling brand on the market, ahead of Subaru (21,743) and Volkswagen (18,870) and not far off Nissan (24,916) and MG (24,953). Not bad considering Tesla only sells two models.
MG ahead of the market on EV sales
MG is another brand also ahead of the overall market on EV sales. Of 24,593 cars sold in the first six months of 2024 14 percent of them were EVs (the overall market is at 8 percent). The MG4 (2771 sales) is the brand’s third best seller.
Forget NSW vs Victoria, the ACT is rocketing ahead
We love some state-versus-state action – but it’s a territory leading. Of 9590 cars sold in the ACT in the first six months 21.7 percent were EV. In NSW 8.1 percent of the 191,196 sales were electric – identical to the uptake in Queensland – while in Victoria the number was 7.5 percent. Just 7.0 percent of the 41,664 cars South Australians snapped up were electric while the number crept up to 7.5 percent in WA. While Tasmania is running wholly on renewables just 6.7 percent of the 10,312 new cars sold were EV. And while it’s no surprise the Northern Territory isn’t exactly falling in love with EVs yet, there were still 168 buyers who made up 3.1 percent of all cars sold there in the first half.
| Make/model | Sales from January to June 2024 |
| Tesla Model Y | 12,516 |
| Tesla Model 3 | 10,600 |
| BYD Seal | 4092 |
| BYD Atto 3 | 3726 |
| MG4 | 2771 |
| BYD Dolphin | 1248 |
| BMW i4 | 1177 |
| Kia EV6 | 1060 |
| Volvo EX30 | 1001 |
| Polestar 2 | 950 |
| Hyundai Kona EV | 892 |
| Volvo XC40 Pure Electric | 760 |
| MG ZS EV | 640 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQA | 624 |
| GWM Ora | 592 |
| Toyota bZ4X | 555 |
| BMW iX3 | 545 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 | 541 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV | 516 |
| BMW iX1 | 476 |
| BMW iX2 | 428 |
| Kia Niro EV | 422 |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E | 326 |
| Kia EV9 | 313 |
| Volvo C40 | 291 |
| Subaru Solterra | 278 |
| Cupra Born | 259 |
| BMW iX | 255 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 6 | 233 |
| Peugeot e-2008 | 207 |
| Nissan Leaf | 190 |
| Renault Megane E-Tech | 171 |
| Porsche Taycan | 163 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQB | 152 |
| Audi Q8 e-tron | 112 |
| Lexus RZ | 109 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQE | 91 |
| LDV eDeliver 7 | 85 |
| BMW i5 | 75 |
| Fiat 500e | 73 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV | 68 |
| Audi e-tron GT | 66 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQC | 66 |
| Mini Cooper Electric | 64 |
| Peugeot e-Partner | 61 |
| Abarth 500e | 60 |
| Genesis GV60 | 46 |
| Lexus UX | 46 |
| Kia EV5 | 40 |
| Ford E-Transit | 27 |
| BMW i7 | 23 |
| Genesis GV70 Electrified | 14 |
| Mini Countryman EV | 14 |
| Rolls-Royce Spectre | 11 |
| LDV eT60 | 8 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQV | 7 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQS | 6 |
| Jaguar I-Pace | 5 |
| Mercedes-Benz eVito | 4 |
| Genesis G80 Electrified | 1 |
| LDV Mifa 9 | 1 |
