Teslas by postcode: Where EVs are most popular in Australia

• NSW is home to more than half the Teslas in Australia
• Victoria is well behind NSW and Queensland for Tesla ownership
• The Australian Capital Territory buys the most Teslas as a proportion of population

Click here to see a state-by-state breakdown of Telsla registrations across Australia

Click here the Top 101 postcodes for Tesla ownership in Australia

Sydney’s well-heeled buy more Teslas than anyone else in the country, according to registration figures by postcode collated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and exclusively analysed by EVcentral.com.au

Suburbs such as the Sydney CBD, Vaucluse, Watsons Bay, Mosman, Bellevue Hill, Crows News, Lane Cove, Bondi, Baulkham Hills and Killara account for around one in 10 Teslas registered on Australian roads.

And despite only accounting for a bit under one-third of the population, NSW postcodes account for more than half the Teslas registered in the country.

People in NSW appear to have embraced the zero emissions promise of the world’s top selling EV brand.

The Teslas-by-postcode figures were collated on January 31, 2020, so miss out a large chunk of sales of the top-selling Tesla Model 3 throughout 2020.

But they still give a solid indication of the popularity of Teslas around the country.

Also see our analysis of non-Tesla EV and PHEV sales across Australia.

Tesla began selling cars in Australia in 2014, and while the early Model S and Model X have been mostly niche players, sales estimations (Tesla doesn’t release sales figures) and the popularity of them on the road suggest the Model 3 is more of a volume player, so will boost the overall figures further.

Canberrans big on Teslas

And the unofficial kings of Tesla ownerships are Canberrans. Perhaps politicians – or their families – like the appeal of an electric car.

While there were only 207 Teslas registered in the Australian Capital Territory by early 2020, the population of 429,800 people means there are 48.2 Teslas per 100,000 people.

That gives the ACT the highest uptake per 100,000 people of Teslas in the country – and that 48.2 figure is way ahead of NSW, with 31.1 Teslas per 100,000 people.

The retiree-rich suburbs surrounding the Gold Coast and wealthy Brisbane suburbs such as Fig Tree Pocket and Chapel Hill also have a high proportion of electric cars from the game changing Californian brand.

And Queensland has a healthy 24.1 Teslas per 100,000 people, comfortably ahead of the national average of 19.2.

The top 33 postcodes for Tesla ownership in Australia include only NSW and Queensland suburbs.

Victorians cold on Teslas

Victorians, on the other hand, appear to be taking time to warm to Tesla. Perhaps it’s the high proportion of dirty electricity – Victoria still relies heavily on coal, including brown coal – that is turning some people off.

Early in 2020 there were just 670 Teslas registered in Victoria, less than 14 percent of the 4926 Teslas in Australia.

Victoria has just 10.0 Teslas per 100,000 people, by far the lowest of the three most populous states.

And of the top 101 postcodes in the country for Tesla ownership, just 8 are in Victoria. Those top 101 postcodes account for 46 percent of the Teslas registered in Australia.

The most popular Victorian suburbs for Teslas are the wealthy suburban enclaves or Brighton and Kew along with the Melbourne CBD. Each has 21 Teslas, making them equal 33^rd of the 642 Australian postcodes with at least one Tesla registered.

Incidentally, most Australian postcodes don’t have a single Tesla registered in them. There are 2153 postcodes – many incorporating multiple suburbs – without any Teslas registered to them, according to the ABS.

The Tesla-rich suburbs tend to be closer to Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra and be in wealthy areas. That’s to be expected given the most affordable Tesla sells for about $74,000 – four times the price of some entry-level ICE cars – and they can stretch to over $300,000.

Perhaps unsurprisingly – given the vast distances and preference for off-road vehicles – Northern Territorians aren’t big drivers of Teslas. But there are 11 in the least populous state, mostly focused in Darwin and Alice Springs. That gives the NT 4.5 Teslas per 100,000 people.

Tasmania is also light for Teslas, with just 9 registered there early in 2020.

Considering the vast majority of Tasmania’s electricity is generated from renewables it’s surprising there are just 1.7 Teslas per 100,000 people. That makes Tasmania’s ratio of Tesla’s per head of population the lowest in the country.

See our tables below for more detailed data on where Teslas are registered around Australia.

Tesla registrations across Australia: Teslas per 100,000 people

State or territory	No of Teslas	Population	Teslas/100,000
Australian Capital Territory	207	429,800	48.2
NSW	2533	8,157,700	31.1
Queensland	1245	5,160,000	24.1
Victoria	670	6,689,400	10.0
Western Australia	178	2,656,200	6.7
Northern Territory	11	245,400	4.5
South Australia	73	1,767,200	4.1
Tasmania	9	539,600	1.7
Australia	4926	25,649,985	19.2

Top 101 Australian postcodes for Tesla ownership

Click on the postcode below to see which suburbs it includes.

Number	Postcode	Number of Teslas registered
1	2000	85
2	2030	74
3	2088	62
4	2023	48
5	4069	45
6	2065	44
7	4212	42
8	4217	40
9	2066	38
10	2153	37
11	2071	31
12	2026	30
13	2155	30
14	2074	29
15	4006	29
16	4216	27
17	4068	26
18	4218	26
19	2027	25
20	2021	25
21	2069	25
22	2075	25
23	2073	25
24	2025	24
25	2110	24
26	2090	24
27	2010	24
28	4101	24
29	2095	23
30	4005	23
31	2076	23
32	4211	23
33	4064	21
34	3186	21
35	2101	21
36	3101	21
37	4000	21
38	3000	21
39	2063	20
40	2092	20
41	2067	20
42	2112	20
43	4226	20
44	4556	20
45	4215	20
46	3142	19
47	2068	19
48	2096	19
49	2107	19
50	2031	19
51	2137	19
52	2154	19
53	3030	19
54	2022	18
55	2070	18
56	2612	18
57	2135	18
58	3141	18
59	2046	18
60	2035	18
61	4152	18
62	2913	18
63	6011	17
64	2011	17
65	2037	17
66	2060	17
67	2085	17
68	2093	17
69	4051	17
70	2611	17
71	2251	17
72	3121	17
73	2617	17
74	4213	17
75	2145	17
76	2024	16
77	2603	16
78	4066	16
79	4520	16
80	3124	16
81	2036	16
82	2250	16
83	2029	15
84	2009	15
85	4567	15
86	2034	15
87	2576	15
88	2121	15
89	2118	15
90	2602	15
91	4170	15
92	2099	15
93	4065	14
94	2119	14
95	4007	14
96	2914	14
97	3149	14
98	4509	14
99	4053	14
100	2500	14
101	4350	14