Australian EV sales up almost 200% in 2021

Australian electric vehicle sales increased 191 per cent over 2020 figures, while plug-in hybrid (PHEV) sales jumped 99 per cent.

The end-of-year sales figures, revealed today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), show Australians bought 5,149 electric cars in 2021 (up from 1,769 in 2020); 3,372 PHEVS (up from 1,691) and 38 hydrogen cars (up from zero).

Sadly, these official figures are wildly under the true picture as one car company – and one alone – refuses to share its sales figures with the FCAI.

Yep, it’s Tesla.

This is a huge disappointment as the FCAI can’t give an accurate picture on the true number of electric cars sold, nor the true percentage of sales made up by EVs.

FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber said: “It is important to note that overall electric vehicle sales as reported through VFACTS account for just 0.49 per cent of the total market share.”

EV sales shortfall

With Tesla Model 3 sales not included, the shortfall of electric vehicles is likely to be well over 10,000.

In August we reported there were over 5,000 Tesla sales in the first half of 2021, based on the Electric Vehicle Council’s figures.

Model 3 price drops, EV government subsidies and ample stock while other cars suffered long waiting lists will no doubt have seen far more than 5,000 Model 3s sold in the second half of last year.

Conservative estimates put Model 3 sales at 1,000 per month, meaning some 12,000 will have sold in 2021.

With Toyota selling 13,081 Camrys in 2021, there’s every chance the Tesla Model 3 was the best-selling mid-size car in Australia last year.

If Tesla did report local sales (it reports global sales only), grown-up discussions between politicians, councils, industry bodies and the like could be far more productive when addressing EV policy, planning and infrastructure.

If we add that conservative 12,000 Tesla Model 3 number to the reported 5,149 we get a figure of 17,149 EV sales.

From a total of 1,049,831 new vehicles sold in Australia in 2021, that would see EVs making up 1.6 per cent of market share.

In other words, instead of saying 1 in 200 vehicles sold in Australia is purely electric, we could report 1 in every 63 vehicles bought in Australian is a pure EV.

And that would make us look far less daft on the world stage.

Of note from the 2021 figures, Porsche’s Taycan outsold the brand’s iconic 911 with sales of 531 versus 428. And purists wept.

It makes the first electric Porsche second only to the Macan SUV (2,328 sold) in the German brand’s sales numbers, if the Cayenne Coupe and Cayenne Wagon are deemed individual models.

The FCAI sales figures fail to separate electric versions of models where a combustion engine is also offered, such as Hyundai’s Kona or Mazda’s MX-30. To that end, we don’t see the figures for how many Hyundai Kona Electrics, for example, have shifted.

From EV-only models, here are 2021’s final sales figures (2020’s sales numbers in brackets where applicable):

Porsche Taycan 531

Mercedes-Benz EQA 367

Nissan Leaf 367 (370)

Mercedes-Benz EQC 298 (194)

Hyundai Ioniq 5 172

Audi e-tron 108 (64)

BMW i3 67 (55)

Jaguar I-Pace 44 (70)

BMW iX 35

Hyundai Nexo 26

Toyota Mirai 12