EV sales are growing in Australia, but newly released data underline the fact that it remains an embarrassingly slow transition when compared with fellow right-hand-drive markets such as the UK and New Zealand.
In the UK, new sales figures for September show that, for the first time, battery electric cars have outsold hybrids, and have outsold diesel cars by a factor of more than three times. In total, 32,721 battery-electric cars were sold in September, accounting for a very respectable 15.2% of sales. Plug in hybrid EVs made up 6.4% of sales.
The Tesla Model 3 was the best-selling car in the country, fossil fuel engines included, a fact that was trumpetted of course by Tesla Owners UK on Twitter:
The Tesla Model 3 outsold every other car in the UK in September 2021 with 6,879 cars delivered! Great work @tesla / @elonmusk
Data from https://t.co/1y835lZ18i pic.twitter.com/KxEjpEDvW1
— Tesla Owners UK (@TeslaOwnersUK) October 5, 2021
In New Zealand, the almost unthinkable happened: More Tesla Model 3s were registered in September than Toyota Hiluxes.
Stuff reported that Hilux sales slumped due to supply issues – just 648 were sold in September. By comparison, the Tesla Model 3 skyrocketed into the top three passenger and SUV sales by brand with 1,066 sales.
That’s five times that of the previous month and half of all sales in 2021 so far. All in all, battery-electric cars accounted for 1,512 units in New Zealand in September, or 9%. Plug in hybrids made up a further 8.8% of sales.
Australia’s numbers – despite the introduction of an electric vehicle rebate of $3,000 in both Victoria in July and NSW iat the start of September for EVs below $68,750 (NSW also offers a stamp duty waiver for EVs below $78,000) – are woefully poor in comparison.
According to the latest figures from the industry-based VFacts, there were twice as many all-electric cars sold in September compared to the same month in 2020 – all 466 of them.
That number, of course, excludes Tesla, which does not report local sales figures to the FCAI. But word has it that there have been few if any vehicles shipped to Australia in recent weeks, with Tesla concentrating on clearing floor stock (and hence current short wait times – the Tesla website still currently stating 1-3 weeks as opposed to the former three months this Tesla owner had to endure!).
Even with Tesla sales, Australia has only just been hitting 2% of local auto sales. Without Tesla, battery-electric cars hit an embarrassingly low 0.55% in September. PHEVs registered a bare 0.3%, with 201 sold in September.
To pull apart why Australia’s EV sales are so poor compared to its counterparts is not difficult. Both the UK and NZ have clearly declared net-zero by 2050 targets, which in turn has encouraged greater choice from carmakers (NZ regularly sees new models before Australia).
Both the UK and New Zealand have thereby benefited from a clear policy position and a pro-EV stance by governments, the UK particularly so with low emissions zones in city centres aimed at discouraging owners of high-polluting vehicles from adding to the already shocking air pollution quality, and a ban on new petrol and diesel car sales from 2030.
In New Zealand, a Clean Car rebate has been in force since July, and the latest figures there are pleasantly surprising given it was reported in September that ute-makers such as Mitsubishi are ramping up marketing ahead of the introduction of the Clean Car tax which will add up to $NZ2,700 to the price of higher polluting vehicles such as utes.
Also, both have about the same amount of fast-chargers (~250 according to Plugshare), which perhaps is notable considering the vast difference in landmass of both compared to Australia’s wide expanses. Even with New Zealand’s much smaller population, fast chargers are on average the same distance apart compared to the UK.
To sum it up, Australia still has a long way to go. But with more players entering the local market – Ford being the latest – it is a case of slowly, slowly, catchy monkey.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.