The first official data for EV sales for the month of March reveals a significant lift in sales for Tesla in response to the deepening global fuel crisis, although its numbers will have been limited by supply issues that has pushed wait times out by several months.
Data from the Electric Vehicle Council released on Thursday show Tesla sold 3,485 EVs in March, up from 2,854 in the same month a year earlier. This was its highest since last September, although its numbers have been held back by the lack of stock and the company is promising to boost supply in coming months.
The strongest performer was the Model Y, with 2,818 sales, including for the new six-seater Model Y L, with the Model 3 selling 667 units.
That helped Tesla’s overall sales for the March quarter to jump to 7,260, up 40 per cent from the same period a year earlier when its sales here hit by the wait for the renewed Model Y, factory retooling and a customer pushback against CEO Elon Musk.
The EVC only releases data from Tesla and another EV specialist Polestar, which suffered a fall in sales to 160 from 182 a year earlier. Data from the rest of the car industry, including the increasingly popular Chinese brands, are due after Easter from the Federated Chamber of Automative Industries.
But other indicators are strong. Carloop notes that EV registrations in NSW, the country’s biggest market, jumped 50 per cent in March, and in the ACT EV sales topped 25 per cent again to take total numbers above 15,000 – and an overall share of the existing fleet to a country-leading 5 per cent.
Insurance queries and auction enquiries have also surged, with the EVC noting that EV sales in March for Pickles were up 60 per cent from February and EV searches on the Pickles website jumped 163% month‑on‑month.
EVC CEO Julie Delvecchio says the numbers reflected a fundamental shift in how Australians think about EVs.
“What we’re seeing is a tipping point,” she said. ” The fuel crisis hasn’t created interest in EVs – it’s accelerated a shift that was already underway. Our website saw almost 100,000 page views in the past month, up 71%, with 97% of visitors new to our site. The most visited page? ‘EVs available in Australia.’ Australians are ready – the industry needs to meet them there.”
“EV drivers are driving the country’s fuel resilience while cutting costs on their household budget. This has never been more important than now, given the PM’s address urging people to use petrol and diesel responsibly and ‘save fuel for people who have no choice but to drive’.
“Volatile global oil markets are changing the conversation. Australians aren’t asking whether EVs are the future anymore. They’re asking which one they can get their hands on, and when.”
Tesla country director Thom Drew says more stock in on the way, with wait times for some variants pushed out until May because of heavy demand.
“The fuel crisis is pushing Australians to look for more certainty – both on energy and cost of living – and EVs are delivering exactly that,” Drew said in a rare commentary about local sales data.
“We’re seeing strong customer demand clear out local stock, so we’re ramping up Q2 supply, with more vehicles arriving over the coming weeks.”
Scott Maynard, the head of Polestar Australia, also said the market is changing.
“There is a clear sense of urgency from customers, which is driving strong order volumes. Interest in Polestar’s electric cars is surging in Australia,” he said.
“Test drive bookings have tripled in the last fortnight, and traffic to our showrooms is what we’d expect to see during a sale event. The vulnerable state of our nation’s fuel security has been exposed, and won’t magically improve when the current crisis ends.”
VW, Hyundai and Audi also said interest is clearly rising, although their EV sales data will not be released until next Tuesday along with the rest of the industry.
“Hyundai is seeing a clear increase in consumer interest in electric vehicles as Australians respond to rising petrol prices and heightened global fuel market uncertainty,” Hyundai’s chief operating officer Gavin Donaldson said in a statement.
‘These conditions are accelerating the shift toward EVs, which offer lower running costs, greater energy security and reduced exposure to international supply shocks.”
See also: EV registrations surge 50 pct in March as Australians go electric amid fuel crisis
And: Australian electric vehicle sales by month in 2026; by model and by brand
Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of The Driven, and also edits and founded the Renew Economy and One Step Off The Grid web sites. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years, is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, and owns a Tesla Model 3.