Electric vehicle sales jump in a strong car sales market

Electric vehicles accounted for almost one in 20 new vehicles sold in August, new figures show.

Australian sales of ‘pure’ electric vehicles came in at 4.4 per cent in August, well above the run rate for the year-to-date of about 2 per cent. Picture: AFP

Battery electric vehicle sales have hit a new record, accounting for almost one in 20 new cars sold in August, new figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries show.

FCAI chief executive Tony Weber said sales of “pure” electric vehicles came in at 4.4 per cent in August, well above the run rate for the year-to-date of about 2 per cent.

Once hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles were added in, vehicles with some electric component in the drive train accounted for more than 10 per cent of vehicle sales in Australia for the calendar year so far.

Tesla remains the dominant force in the EV market, with its market share still sitting at more than 80 per cent.

“We have seen strong sales of battery electric vehicles in August, with Tesla alone selling 3397 vehicles,’’ Mr Weber said.

“In the month, EV sales were 4.4 per cent of the total market. This is the highest market share for pure battery electric vehicles ever recorded in a single month in Australia.

“Year-to-date EV sales are 2 per cent of the total market, hybrids are 7.6 per cent and plug-in hybrid vehicles are 0.6 per cent.

“Combined electrified vehicles are now just over 10 per cent of total sales in 2022.”

Overall, vehicle sales nationally were up 17.3 per cent compared with the same month in 2021, with 95,256 vehicles sold, bringing the year-to-date number to 717,575. This is down slightly on last year’s figure to the end of August which was 732,828.

Toyota remained the overwhelming dominant force in new vehicle sales, selling 20,616 units for the month, with Mazda next with 8824 followed by Kia (6780), Hyundai (6643) and Mitsubishi (6380).

Sales figures by state were notably different, with NSW new vehicle sales up 40 per cent to 30,501, while sales in South Australia fell 9.7 per cent to 5702.

“The Toyota Hi-Lux was the highest selling model with 6214 sales reported,’’ the FCAI said.

“The Ford Ranger followed with 4497. Toyota’s RAV4 was next with 2482 followed by Tesla’s Model 3 (2380) and Toyota’s Landcruiser (2379).’’

Originally published as Electric vehicle sales jump in a strong car sales market