EV sales in Australia have seen a huge uptick of almost 50 per cent and to an all time high in certain markets, as a result of the recent surge in fuel prices and fears of an ongoing fuel crisis.
New data compiled by specialist EV data company carloop shows that in NSW alone, nearly 4,000 new EVs were registered in the month of March 2026, up by almost 50% over the previous month.
This helped the entire battery-electric passenger fleet increase to 112,228 vehicles on the state’s roads.
Similarly, data compiled from South Australia show a 44% increase in EV registrations in March 2026, compared to February 2026.
Looking ahead, EV orders are also seeing a jump, with reports this week from Omoda Jaecoo, which shared that its order books for the $36,990 driveway price vehicle had doubled in just 2 weeks, from 2,000 to 4,000.
It is one of a number of indicators of surging interest in EVs, with the wait time for Tesla EVs surging out to a couple of months, Origin Energy exhausting its supply of EVs available on subscription, and a surge of interest in EVs at auctions, second hand electric online, and in the showroom.
The Tesla interest comes just a few weeks after the company launched its biggest EV model in recent years, the 6-seater Model Y L, opening up more interest from buyers looking for more than 5 seats in an EV. Toyota and MG have both flagged the imminent release of electric utes, and a number of lower priced EVs have also hit the market.
The availability of more affordable models is key, and in recent weeks Australia has seen a number of new models, particularly in the electric hatchback space, coming under $32,000 driveaway.
These include models like the GAC Aion UT and MG4 EV Urban both land at under $32,000, with a few more to come to our market by Q2 2026.
We look forward to diving into the official sales numbers in the coming days when they are released by the Electric Vehicle Council and the FCAI. But if this early analysis on March 2026 EV registrations and future demand is anything to go by, this year is going to be the best year for Australian EV adoption so far.
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.