Tesla dominated the Australian EV uptake in Australia’s most populous states in the first quarter of 2022 with its ever-increasing lead, but how did other states like South Australia, the ACT and Tasmania go?
Were these EV uptake trends only limited to our more populated states or are other parts of Australia seeing a strong EV uptake too? New data suggests the latter.
South Australian up by 120% in Q1 2022
New data from carloop for Q1 2022 shows an increase of 120% in Tesla uptake in South Australia compared to the same time in 2021. This meant that Tesla uptake more than doubled. Nearly 100 more new South Australian owners took deliveries of their Teslas in the first 3 months of this year than same time last year.
The increase is partly driven by the drop in price in July last year for Tesla Model 3 and the introduction of South Australia’s EV subsidy scheme launched late in 2021 where a $3000 rebate is on offer to prospective EV buyers in the state.
Delivery Delays for Tassie Teslas
Tasmania had more than 70 new cars delivered to new Tesla owners in the state in the first quarter of 2022. That is a healthy increase given there are 831 passenger EVs currently on Tasmanian roads. This shows that over 8% of all EVs in the state were a Tesla Model 3 which arrived in the state in the first 3 months.
However, this is a slightly lower figure than expected due to transportation issues caused by shipment delays of Tesla into Australia. That explains the lower number of new Tesla deliveries to Tasmania in March 2022.
Monthly deliveries of Teslas in Australia are usually their highest in the last month of the quarter due to the quarterly production and shipping schedules for our market. This was not seen in March 2022 in Tasmania due to shipping delays earlier in the month.
The Driven understands that these cars were transported to Tasmania in April 2022 and we expect to see more new Tesla deliveries in next month’s data that will cover this period’s new ownership numbers in the state.
As a comparison, recent data from Queensland saw March 2022 new Tesla deliveries at their highest in the quarter.
ACT Tesla EV sales up by 224% in first 3 months of 2022
New data in the ACT showed an increase of 224% in Tesla ownership in Q1 of 2022 compared to same time in 2021.
ACT saw a rapid rise in the Tesla uptake with its Q1 year on year uptake increase far surpassing most other parts of Australia as seen in recent 2022 Tesla uptake data. That’s an increase of 150 new Tesla owners in 2022 around Canberra and its surrounds.
The ACT’s stamp duty waiver on EVs, free registration for first 2 years and recent interest free loan scheme have all contributed to the rise in Tesla ownership in the territory.
Predictions for 2022, Tassie, ACT & SA EV Uptake
After a fairly good start to 2022 for ACT, SA and Tasmania, all showing strong growth in Tesla uptake, things might be a bit slower in Q2 as Shanghai lockdowns impact the production for the Australian market this quarter.
This slowdown in deliveries will pick back up now that production has resumed and general EV demand in Australia remains strong.
Tasmanian owners will see more cars delivered to Australia via Port Kembla in the second quarter than in the first quarter. It’s expected that there would be higher numbers for Tesla registrations in April 2022.
SA and ACT with their EV subsidies and rebates saw a good increase in new Tesla owners. SA’s new government is keeping the EV policies so that will sustain the high demand. Between these two parts of Australia, carloop predicts over 615 new Tesla owners will receive their cars in Q2.
The impact of subsidies, rebates and general interest in EVs is starting to play a role in not only our most populated states but in other parts of Australia which are really starting to take Tesla EV uptake in 2022 into overdrive.
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.