Electric vehicle sales in the month of May saw a record monthly total and Tesla dominate once again, this time with the Model Y.
BYD also saw it’s biggest month so far as it has officially registered more vehicles in one month than many other brands have in the first five months of 2023.
The official EV uptake figure for the month was 7.7% with Tesla slowing deliveries of its Model 3 in what’s anticipated to be a slowdown in production as a refreshed Model 3 is prepared for release.
In total, Tesla and BYD accounted for 73 per cent of electric vehicle sales for the month, which is pretty consistent with the year to date, with the two car makers taking 72 per cent of the total market. Tesla on its own provides 58 per cent of Australian sales so far this year, although it’s interesting to note BYD is now in top position in New Zealand.
The Driven is waiting to hear from BMW on the iX3 and the Mini Cooper Electric which will be available later in the month.
Here is a full list of the EV sales in the month of May and the year to date.
May 2023 Australian EV Sales
| EV Model | May-23 | YTD |
| Tesla Model Y | 3,178 | 8,442 |
| BYD Atto 3 | 1,448 | 4,664 |
| Tesla Model 3 | 1,298 | 10,117 |
| MG ZS EV | 276 | 1,400 |
| Volvo XC40 Recharge | 266 | 613 |
| Polestar 2 | 226 | 896 |
| Volvo C40 recharge | 165 | 534 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQA | 124 | 272 |
| Kia EV6 | 104 | 381 |
| Kia e-Niro | 100 | 305 |
| BMW iX | 86 | 412 |
| Hyundai Kona | 72 | 364 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQB | 71 | 248 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQE | 65 | 199 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 6 | 61 | 217 |
| Cupra Born | 59 | 90 |
| Nissan Leaf | 56 | 215 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 | 45 | 397 |
| Porsche Taycan | 42 | 172 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQC | 35 | 112 |
| BMW i4 | 26 | 48 |
| Genesis GV60 | 25 | 105 |
| Genesis GV70 | 19 | 53 |
| Audi e-tron GT | 16 | 166 |
| Audi e-tron | 14 | 65 |
| BMW i7 | 3 | 21 |
| Jaguar I-Pace | 3 | 16 |
| GWM Ora | 3 | 3 |
| Mercedes-Benz EQS | 1 | 9 |
| Genesis G80 | 0 | 5 |
| Hyundai Ioniq | 0 | 1 |
| BMW iX3 | TBC | 201* |
| Mini Cooper Electric | TBC | 164* |
| Total | 8,124 | 32,050 |
Note: Source is FCI. Totals do not reconcile with numbers provided as some sales data from individual car makers not revealed. *YTD to April only from iX3 and Mini Cooper.
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.