Electrical automobile gross sales in Australia have tripled in 2023

Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in Australia have more than tripled over the first four months of 2023 compared to the same period last year.

Australians took delivery of 23,926 pure EVs between January 1 and April 30, which is equal to 6.8 per cent overall market share. At the same point in 2022, EV sales and share were 7618 units and 2.2 per cent respectively.

EVs have also overtaken hybrids (21,693 registrations YTD) as the favourite form of electrification in Australia so far this year – in some part down to Toyota’s ongoing supply headaches.

Sales of plug-in hybrids (PHEV) year-to-date sit at just 2006 units, meaning that regular hybrid and PHEV sales combined still fall short of the running EV tally.

Sales by fuel type YTD:

• Petrol: 181,955, up 2.5 per cent
• Diesel: 106,341, down 9.1 per cent
• Electric: 23,926, up 214.1 per cent
• Hybrid: 21,693, down 19.0 per cent
• PHEV: 2006, up 19.7 per cent

April saw three EV-only models in the overall top 20; being the Tesla Model Y in fourth, Tesla Model 3 in 10th, and BYD Atto 3 in 15th.

The part of the market where EVs are making the biggest inroads is the ‘Medium Car over $60,000’ segment, which once upon a time was dominated by the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3 Series.

In 2023, the segment’s top-seller is the Tesla Model 3 (with a 63.6 per cent segment share). Add in the Polestar 2, Hyundai Ioniq 6, and BMW i4, and pure EVs own 70 per cent of this segment.

In fact, the penetration of EVs in overall passenger car sales in high, sitting at 16 per cent share this year. Meanwhile 6.9 per cent of SUVs sold this year are pure electric, and light commercial EV sales are all-but-irrelevant.

EV sales by vehicle type:

• Passenger: 10,479 sales, 16.0 per cent share
• SUV: 13,409 sales, 6.9 per cent share
• Light commercial: 38 sales, 0.05 per cent share

While a market-share figure of 8.0 per cent is suggestive of exponential EV growth being around the corner, the stumbling block to this is a lack of market supply.

It’s this that has convinced the federal government to legislate a fuel efficiency standard designed to punish car manufacturers should their new vehicle average CO2 emissions exceed an agreed, imposed limit.

It now plans to spend the next few weeks designing the standards with stakeholders and plans to introduce a final plan to parliament by the end of 2023.

From there, assuming the bill passes both houses, the onus will be on Australia’s car brands to deliver more low-emissions cars to Australian private buyers and fleets – the latter sector in particular held back by restricted supply that undermines recent fringe-benefits tax cuts.

Australia is one of very few countries of similar economic standing without fuel efficiency standards, which punish car manufacturers should their new vehicle average CO2 emissions exceed an agreed, imposed limit.

Background

While we do not have the full April sales breakdown for all EV models – since some such as the MG ZS and Volvo XC40 also offer non-EV options that are bundled in VFACTS data – we recently ran a quarter-one EV wrap looking at sales across January to March.

EV share by region, Q1 2023

• New South Wales: 7.6 per cent market share
• Queensland: 6.5 per cent market share
• Victoria: 5.3 per cent market share
• Western Australia: 5.5 per cent market share
• Australian Capital Territory: 18.9 per cent market share
• South Australia: 4.4 per cent market share
• Tasmania: 6.5 per cent market share
• Northern Territory: 2.0 per cent market share

Top 10 EV models, Q1 2023

1. Tesla Model 3
2. Tesla Model Y
3. BYD Atto 3
4. MG ZS
5. Volvo XC40
6. Polestar 2
7. Hyundai Ioniq 5
8. BMW iX
9. Hyundai Kona
10. Volvo C40

MORE: Australia’s best-selling electric cars so far in 2023