Australia’s Light Electric Vehicle Fleet Grows To 83,000 In 2022, & 79% Are BEVs
Australia’s EV market has been a bit slow compared to similar markets around the world. The good news is that the market is finally starting to show some significant traction. Australia’s Electric Vehicle Council recently published the Australian Electric Vehicle Industry Recap 2022 Report.
In that report, they show that last year was pretty good in terms of EV sales in Australia. The Council says, “While the EV achievements of 2022 are a step in the right direction, there is still much more work to be done for Australia’s EV market to catch up to the world, and to support the achievement of our climate targets, including net zero emissions by 2050.”
Sales of new EVs in Australia almost doubled in 2022, compared to 2021. This is a promising development. However, the market is still significantly trailing the global average, which is currently estimated to have been between 12 to 14% in 2022. The report notes that Australia is also significantly behind markets in the region, such as China, where 28% of new vehicle sales in 2022 were EVs.
So, where is Australia’s market share now for new vehicle sales? Provisional figures for 2002 show that the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), continues to lead in Australia in terms of EV market share at 9.7%. Then there is New South Wales and Victoria that doubled their market share to 4% of new vehicle purchases in 2022. Tasmania was next with 3.7%, Queensland at 3.5% and Western Australia at 3.4%. In South Australia and the Northern Territory, EV market share also almost doubled between 2021 and 2022, although coming off a much lower base.
The report adds, “While it is encouraging that the Australian EV fleet has roughly doubled each year since 2020, EVs still represent less than 0.5% of Australia’s passenger and light commercial vehicle fleet. Significant efforts will be required by Australian governments and industry to achieve a near 100% zero-emission vehicle fleet by 2050 in order to align with our national and state climate targets of net zero by 2050 – at the latest. This remains possible but in the near term will require the introduction of an ambitious fuel efficiency standard to significantly expand the supply of EVs to Australia. Continued support until at least 2030 will also be necessary to ensure EVs make up at least 50-60% of all new vehicles purchased by then.”
Australia is one of the many markets that has been starved in terms of the variety of EV models available for consumers to buy. The selection of EVs in the market improved significantly in 20022, helping to drive more sales. 70 different EV models were available in the Australian market in 2022, made up of 38 BEVs and 32 PHEVs.
Here are the top 20 EV models purchased during 2022:
The Tesla Model 3 and Y took the top two positions in 2022, followed by the BYD Atto, which had an impressive showing selling 2,113 units despite only arriving in Australia late last year. With more models coming to Australia this year, we hope to see another good performance in terms of new vehicle registrations. Will EV sales double again in 2023? Let’s wait and find out.
Charts from The Australian Vehicle Council’s Australian Electric Vehicle Industry Recap 2022
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