EV uptake in Victoria has seen a significant shift in the last three months – particularly in the case of market leader Tesla, which sold seven out of 10 cars in Australia in 2021.
New data from carloop shows that Victoria, which went through harsher lockdowns during the pandemic, is bouncing back very quickly with the first quarter of 2022 showing Tesla uptake more than double compared to the same period in 2021.
142% increase in Q1 Tesla uptake in 2022
Victoria saw 1,223 new Tesla EVs on the road in the first 3 months of 2022. The recovery from the pandemic has seen many new EV owners in Victoria – showing an uptake increase of 142% in the state.
This increase comes on the back of the Victorian ZEV subsidy scheme introduced last year after the Victorian government set a target of 50% of all EVs to be electric by 2030 in order to reduce transport emissions.
Subsidy scheme pushes monthly EV traction
This scheme was also extended recently after over 4000 Victorians took advantage of it to buy their first EV which is reflected in the Tesla sales above.
Recent data from Solar Victoria shows that 89% of all Victorians who applied for the subsidy purchased a Tesla Model 3 which is reflected in the carloop data with sales jumping from 506 in Q1 in 2021 to over 1,220 in Q1 2022.
With March being the main delivery month for Tesla’s to export markets from Australia’s supply plant of Shanghai, there was an increase of 60% in deliveries to Victorian drivers in 2022 compared to 2021.
Tesla EV Uptake Predictions for Q2 and Beyond
With Tesla uptake on significant growth in Victoria and other states in Australia compared to previous years, 2022 looks to be a very strong year for Tesla in the state. Even after the Tesla Model 3 price increases in Australia during March 2022, the demand seems to outstrip supply significantly.
The impact of recent lockdowns of the Tesla supply plant for Australia, Giga Shanghai, will not be felt until this quarter’s deliveries but overall, we predict over 1,340 new Teslas to end up on Victorian roads in Q2 of 2022.
With Model Y launch in Australia looking to be getting closer, we predict over 20,000 Tesla EVs to be delivered nationwide by the end of 2022 which would be great news for EV uptake as a whole in Victoria and the rest of the country.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.