Electric vehicle sales in Australia rose marginally in November from its October lows, but remains significantly below its year ago figures as the overall new car market also struggled with falling sales.
Tesla bounced back from its disastrous October lows – when the Model Y and Model 3 were knocked off their perch as the best selling EVs in the country – and this combined with an increase from new models and big discounts for the likes of the MG4 held the EV market steady for the month.
But while Tesla retook the crown for the best-selling EV brand in November, its sale for the month were down a massive 45 per cent from the same month a year ago and its year to date sales are down more than 20 per cent. BYD also suffered, despite the success of the BYD Seal, and its EV sales in November fell to their lowest level this year.
The latest data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) shows that a total 6,585 battery electric vehicles were sold in Australia in November – a share that rose slightly compared to the previous month, accounting for 6.5 per cent, but is down from 8,646 in the same month last year.
This is off the back of a total of 101,707 vehicles sold in this period, showing a slight rise in the overall vehicle sales compared to the previous three months, but the overall car market since July is down 8.2 per cent compared with 2023.
Looking at EV uptake, November’s data compares better to October 2024 when 6.4 per cent of new vehicle sales were an EV. This might shows signs of market stability, led by the likes of the BYD Seal, the EV5 and the strong performance of the lowest cost EV on the market, the MG4.
On a year-to-date perspective, the EV sales have accounted for 82,961 vehicles, up from 80,456 sold over the same period in 2023. This is better than the overall car market, which has edged up just 0.6 per cent in the year to date after its post July slump.
And this comes despite the 20.9 per cent fall in Tesla sales so far this year, to 34,754. Overall new car sales have been static in the year to date.
See: Tesla sales plunge again in November: Is this the Elon Musk effect?
The EV data is separated with two suppliers, the FCAI shared 3,969 EVs – and those supplied by the Electric Vehicle Council – 2,616 – from Tesla and Polestar who left the FCAI earlier this year due to the organisation’s stance on zero emission vehicles.
EV Sales Breakdown – November 2024
| FCAI vFacts | 3,969 |
| EVC (Polestar + Tesla) | 2,616 |
| EV Sales Total (FCAI + EVC) | 6,585 |
| Total Vehicle Sales (FCAI + EVC) | 101,707 |
As mentioned above, Tesla regained the top spot with 2,540 EV sales, a rise of 74% compared to its bleak October results, but 45 per cent down from November last year. The Model Y returned to the top position with 1,653 sales. This was followed by the Model 3 which saw 887 sales.
MG4, the best-seller from October, followed the two Tesla models with 821 sales on the back of low price deals being offered by the brand at its dealerships across the country.
BYD took the fourth spot and fifth spot with the Seal taking 360 sales while the Atto 3 followed that with 267 sales. This was the lowest month of sales for BYD’s EVs so far this year and is surprising given the massive incentives of up to $4,000 being offered for a majority of the month on stocked vehicles from the brand’s distributor EVdirect.
Other notable EVs in November included the Kia EV5 which doubled its sales from previous month to 199.
We also had new entrants make the sales charts this month which include Skoda Enyaq (31), MG Cyberster (30) and two VW ID.Buzz models (6).
The best-selling EVs in November 2024 were:
- Tesla Model Y – 1,653 sales
- Tesla Model 3 – 887 sales
- MG MG4 – 821 sales
- BYD Seal – 360 sales
- BYD Atto 3 – 267 sales
- Kia EV5 – 199 sales
- BMW iX1 – 198 sales
- BMW iX3 – 189 sales
- Volvo EX30 – 164 sales
- BMW iX2 – 143 sales
- BMW i4 – 132 sales
- GWM Ora – 127 sales
- Kia EV6 – 111 sales
- MG ZS EV – 86 sales
The Driven is waiting to hear back from various manufacturers regarding sales of some EV models, and this list will be updated once they’re received.
FCAI CEO Tony Weber said the Australian experience with EVs is similar to many major markets overseas such as Europe, New Zealand and the US, although this also disguises the fact that EV sales are at 93 per cent in Norway and 29 per cent in France.
Weber says car makers are responding to regulatory settings that mandate an increase in the number of zero-emission vehicles by introducing new products.
But he says: Consumers remain cautious about making the shift to pure EVs and instead are purchasing hybrid or plug-in hybrid vehicles. PHEV sales jumped to 16.9 per cent of total November sales compared with 9.9 per cent last year.
“The industry will continue its part by introducing an increasing range of more affordable, low emission vehicles while working alongside governments to address challenges such as recharging infrastructure which is critical to building consumer confidence for the transition to low emission vehicles,” he said.
MG has kept their prices low and have improved sales on the MG4 which is clearly helping many more buyers get behind the wheel of an affordable EV.
Tesla sales has also slumped despite the fact that it has launched multiple incentives on leasing, finance, referral credits and more to keep buyers coming through Tesla experience centres and purchasing an EV.
See full details of EV sales for each month of the year in our database here.
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.