The uptake of electric vehicles in Australia surged to new highs in 2023, with sales of 87,217 full battery electric EVs accounting for 7.2 per cent of the 1.2 million new car sales in the country.
The EV share of the market is more than double the 2022 market share, when EV sales which made up 3.1% of the total sales in the country.
Tesla Model Y made it in the top 10 list of vehicles for the year, although having a slower-than-expected month of December due to biosecurity concerns which forced a ship laded thousands of Tesla vehicles to turn back towards Shanghai.
Despite this, Tesla finished the year as the eighth best-selling brand in the country in 2023 and the Model Y was the 6th best-selling car of the year, accounting for 28,769 sales during the year.
The Model Y was only outdone by two other passenger cars, the Toyota Rav4 and MG ZS (some of which were electric). The difference between the top spot was less than a thousand vehicles.
Aside from that, the latter half of the year saw many more affordable EVs make it onto Australian roads. These have a starting price of under $40,000 and include the MG4, BYD Dolphin and GWM Ora electric hatchbacks. They raked up a total of 4,585 sales, or over 5% of the total EV sales in 2023 despite being released late in the year.
This trend is expected to continue in 2024 as more drivers and fleets look to transition towards cleaner EVs. In December, one in every 7 EVs was one of these three affordable hatchbacks.
Overall, EV sales in December tallied up to 6,761, bringing the total battery electric car sales to a total of 87,217. This was a sharp increase of 161% compared to EV sales in 2022 which made up 33,410 vehicles on Australian roads in that year.
During December, Tesla still dominated the EV sales, making up 2,192 sales. This also happened to be the brand’s second-lowest month of sales in the year, mainly due to the Tesla shipment being unable to make it to Australian shores.
BYD also continued to make its mark and now has three different offerings in the local market. The Atto 3 scored a respectable 756 sales in the month of December, and its newly released Seal electric sedan also made the top-5 EV sales for the month.
The best-selling EVs in December were:
- Tesla Model Y – 1351 sales
- Tesla Model 3 – 841 sales
- BYD Atto 3 – 756 sales
- MG MG4 – 607 sales
- BYD Seal – 471 sales
- Polestar 2 – 405 sales
- Kia EV6 – 252 sales
- BYD Dolphin – 236 sales
- Volvo XC40 recharge – 197 sales
- Mercedes-Benz EQA – 140 sales
The Driven is waiting to hear back from various manufacturers for sales of some EV models, such as the MG ZS EV and others. The article and table will be updated once they have been received.
With EV subsidies in several states ending during 2023 and economic uncertainty looming, the coming months will be a true test for EV uptake.
One thing is for sure, EV supply and model availability will continue to improve, and with rising petrol prices, more drivers will consider making the switch to cheaper to run electric vehicles.
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.