EV uptake in Australian outer suburbs overtakes inner city

Putting the lie to assumptions that only wealthy and “hip” inner city residents are making the switch to electric vehicles (EVs), new data from the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) shows that those in Australia’s outer suburbs are more readily embracing the technology.

“Far from electric cars only being bought by people living in the inner city, EVC data shows the people adopting electric vehicles the most are those living in the outer suburbs – areas like Kellyville in Sydney’s north-west and Werribee in Melbourne’s south-west,” said Julie Delvecchio, CEO of the EVC.

“Traditional suburbs have overtaken inner-city suburbs in EV uptake. Our data shows that outer metropolitan suburbs have accounted for 43 per cent of uptake. When combining outer metropolitan, regional and rural, this accounts for 61 per cent of EV uptake in 2023.”

Data showing 2023 sales of new EVs from BYD and Tesla further demonstrates how wide and far EV adoption is spreading across Australia.

According to the EVC, there are several reasons why EV uptake has accelerated in Australia’s outer suburbs, to the point where it has overtaken that seen in the inner-city suburbs.

For many people in these communities, there commute is longer, meaning that a switch to an EV helps save on expensive fuel prices.

People living in the outer suburbs also often have a garage or driveway of their own in which they can charge their EV – something that is far too often not the case for inner-city residents.

The preponderance of rooftop solar is also more common outside of the inner suburbs. And according to EVC data, people living in regional centres like Toowoomba and Ballarat are also embracing the switch to EVs, further undermining propaganda that EVs are an inner-city luxury.

Underneath it all, however, according to the EVC, is the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) which was introduced early last year and went into effect on January 1, 2025.

Designed to help save money at the fuel pump, attract cleaner cars to Australia, and reduce transport emissions, the NVES sets an average CO2 target for all new cars that each vehicle manufacturer must either meet or beat.

In order to bring emissions and costs down over time, the CO2 target will be steadily lowered, incentivising carmakers to provide more fuel efficient, low-, or zero-emission vehicles.

“The New Vehicle Efficiency Standard is helping more Australians living in the outer suburbs make the switch to cleaner cars that will save them up to $3,000 per year,” said Delvecchio.

“All major mainstream car makers are adapting to Australia’s incremental standards, the same way they adapted to standards in the US and Europe. Manufacturers who want to send their dirtiest cars to Australia are the only ones with anything to lose from this very sensible and measured policy.

“Australia needs the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard to continue in the race to catch up with the developed world. Before this year, Australia was the world’s dumping ground for the dirtiest, fuel-hungry cars – an unenviable reputation that’s now firmly in the rearview mirror.”