Australia’s electric car sales are catching up with Europe and the US, but not in a good way.
After sales of EVs grew 4.6 per cent in 2024 and a whopping 161 per cent in 2023, registrations of the zero-emissions vehicles have dropped through the first two months of this year. This follows a decline in the US and Europe last year.
EV sales have dropped by 37 per cent so far this year to 9516, down from 15,004 in the same period of 2024.
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It’s not just EVs, the entire car market is struggling. Total sales are down 5.4 per cent and even utes are down by 10 per cent this year.
The downturn for EVs is more stark, though, with market share slipping from 7.7 per cent to 5.16 per cent compared to the first two months in 2024.
Several major carmakers have stressed the electric car segment is going to be tough this year as the early adopters have already bought their vehicles and now they need to pinch customers off cheaper petrol and diesel cars.
Kia Australia boss, Damien Meredith, told CarsGuide late last year it’s a tough situation.
“I’ve said it, everyone's said it: it’s a struggle… it’s a tough situation,” said Meredith.
“But there’s variables in play where we have to sell more EVs, that’s a fact of life with NVES.
"We’ve basically got to sell double what we’re doing at the moment to meet our requirement for NVES. That’s our strategy, that’s our plan, that’s our mix of sales.
“[We’ve] definitely reached the early adopter limit, now we are into the guts of the market,” he said.
The decline in sales has been uniform across the board, with next to no electric car that has been on sale for a full year posting positive sales results this year.
Tesla is the main contributor with its sales down by more than 65 per cent this year, from 6772 in 2024 to 2331.
The updated Model Y, which is due to arrive in a few months should boost its sales dramatically.
Sales of BYD’s electric cars have taken a back seat to its high flying plug-in hybrids.
The BYD Atto 3 is down about 80 per cent, the Dolphin is down about 70 per cent and the Seal is down by more than 90 per cent.
The Plug-in hybrid Shark 6 ute and Sealion 6 SUV make up about 84 per cent of its sales.
The Chinese brand has almost single-handedly driven up plug-in hybrid sales by 222 per cent, but they still only represent 3.7 per cent of new vehicle sales this year.
Hybrid sales continue to rise sharply. More than 30,000 finding a home in the past two months, which represent a jump of 42.5 per cent, as buyers gravitate towards a cost-effective way to reduce their fuel bills.
Petrol and diesel sales are also dropping. Diesel sales are down about 14 per cent this year and petrol-powered vehicle registrations are down by 10 per cent.
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