The Tesla effect: EV sales boom in Australia as Model Y sales soar
Australian EV sales are soaring, with September marking the first month on record that battery electric vehicles (BEVs) outsold hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles combined.
A total 7247 BEVs found homes in Australia last month, finishing well ahead of hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles — like the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid or Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV — which managed a combined 5141 sales.
The numbers don’t tell the entire story, however. While EV interest is certainly soaring, the deliveries of popular hybrid models have slowed to a crawl in Australia, which helped electric vehicle sales secure the lead in September.
And, as is often the case in Australia, the term electric vehicle is code for Tesla here, with Elon Musk’s company responsible for the lion’s share of sales.
Tesla delivered 5969 sales last month, more than 80 per cent of September’s total electric vehicle total, meaning the brand was responsible for eight in every 10 EVs sold in Australia last month.
Leading that charge was the Tesla Model Y, which delivered 4359 sales on its own in September, helping it secure the title of Australia’s third best-selling vehicle last month, behind only the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger.
It’s an impressive, and RAV4-beating, result for Tesla, and one that’s particularly timely given Toyota’s global boss, Akio Toyoda, this week told his US dealers that “EVs are just going to take longer to become mainstream than media would like us to believe”.
EV sales in the first nine months of this year have already overtaken 2021’s 12-month total, when 20,665 electric vehicles were sold, and have boomed since 2020, when 6900 EVs were sold. It must be said, though, that those numbers are skewed by Tesla sales, which have only recently begun being officially reported.
The figures, which are confirmed by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), show a clear interest in electric vehicles in Australia, despite EVs only accounting for 2.7 per cent of the country’s entire new-vehicle market.
“Year to date, 21,771 battery electric vehicles have been sold,” says FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber. “While the overall market share of battery electric vehicles remains low, at 2.7 per cent, there is a clear market trend towards zero-emission technology.”
According to Australia’s Electric Vehicle Council, the increased uptake is a result of more manufacturers launching electric vehicles in our market, as well as a Federal Government that has at last promised action on EVs and EV infrastructure.
“The Federal Government’s Electric Vehicle Discussion Paper is only the first step towards developing a policy. But as a consumer, you’re buying a new technology, not just new car, and you want to know there is an industry, and a government, supporting it,” says Electric Vehicle Council CEO, Behyad Jafari.
