Tesla wait times stretch out to 2023, but is it really only “rich people” who buy them?

The largest supplier of electric vehicles to Australia, Tesla, is hitting a supply ceiling with wait times now pushing out further for the second time in as many months.

Those buying a new Tesla Model 3 today will be waiting until September at the earliest and – depending on the chosen configuration – could be waiting until January 2023. The Tesla Australia website is now warning wait times have blown out to 6-9 months, up from seven months previously.

The lengthening queues are similar for other popular EVs, with the likes of Volvo, Hyundai, Kia and Polestar only able to offer EVs in the hundreds to Australian customers, even while demand is up to 10 times that much.

Even though certain portions of the media landscape are positing that it is only “rich people” buying them, a confluence of factors is resulting in increased demand, and thus also supply shortages, for electric vehicles across the board.

Electric vehicle interest has already jumped significantly, with a three-fold  increase in 2021 and more gains in 2022, despite the supply constraints.

It is being driven by a combination of skyrocketing fuel prices, and a looming shortage of both combustion vehicles and good quality secondhand vehicles are all conspiring tip more drivers over the edge and go electric.

The problem is that the scarcity of electric vehicle inventory is at least partly due to the carmakers’ need to prioritise EVs to countries with vehicle emissions limits, and Australia doesn’t have any.

An article from the Herald Sun on Monday, using data sourced from the Victoria EV rebate scheme, suggested that it is people from affluent suburbs who are mainly buying electric cars.

This message made it to mainstream TV program The Project on Sunday, but the article’s headline is sorely misleading on the true nature of the current EV market landscape.

For a start, the EV rebate scheme is only available to drivers buying EVs under $68,740 or $68,750, depending on which state you live in (these rebates are only available in Victoria, NSW and South Australia).

The lowest-priced Tesla Model 3 RWD starts at $60,900, so that falls under this threshold.

However, neither the Long Range variant, which starts at $73,200, and the range-topping Performance variant which starts at $84,900, can be bought with an EV rebate.

As energy consultant Pete Petrovsky points out, Tesla has reported that historically drivers are trading in average run-of-the-mill brands like Toyota and Honda in order to get their hands on a Tesla.

As The Driven reported in 2019, the majority of those in an ad hoc survey who bought a Tesla Model 3 when it arrived in Australia were spending $30,000 more than they had ever spent on a vehicle (in this writer’s case it was a good $50,000 more).

And with fuel prices now soaring towards $2.20 a litre, it’s not really any surprise that the EV market is heating up. As one member of the EV community put it on Facebook recently: “They are high-performance vehicles that are cheap to refuel.”

Petrovsky’s article published by The Driven in November outlined the circa $14,000 less it costs to own a Tesla Model 3, sums which have since been backed up by the high resale values of EVs factored into his equations.

To be sure, demand of other EVs outside the rebate scheme, such as Volvo’s $76,990 XC40 Pure Electric Recharge, are also in hot demand, if not in supply.

Automotive News Europe reports that carmakers are scrambling for auto parts as the Ukraine invasion takes its toll on production. The result will be new car delays across the industry, exacerbated by a continuing and worsening semiconductor shortage.

And with demand for good quality secondhand vehicles also set to increase as drivers seek to replace flood-damaged cars across much of NSW and SE Queensland – coupled by warnings to keep an eye out for uninsured and “cleaned up” cars being sold by those in sore need of incoming funds in flood-affected areas – the problem of supply is again compounded.

There is light on the horizon: the next wave of electric vehicles is set to be more widely available and in more affordable options, with both MG and BYD importer EV Direct indicating they have secured thousands (in the case of BYD as many as 18,000) of EVs priced from under $45,000 for drivers in 2022.

Read more: BYD Seal “Atto 4” electric sportscar to rival Tesla Model 3 confirmed for Australia