Sales of electric vehicles have increased 65 percent over the last 12 months in Australia, according to English News.
In contrast, 2.05 percent of new cars sold in Australia were electric vehicles in 2021. The latest State of Electric Vehicles report, released by the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC), showed EVs accounted for 3.39 percent of total new car sales in Australia in the 12 months to September.
Additionally, the number of public fast and ultrafast charger locations across Australia increased by 22 percent. It has around 350 chargers available for public use.
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) leads the country’s transition to electric transport, with EVs accounting for 9.5 percent of all new car sales. Followed by Victoria (3.4%), New South Wales (3.7%), Queensland (3.3%), Tasmania (3.3%), Western Australia (2.8%), South Australia (2.3%), and the Northern Territory (0.8%).
However, the report stated that Australia still has a long way to catch up with the world regarding EV sales.
“It’s great to see so much momentum behind EV sales in Australia, but to put our 3.4 percent in context, Germany sits at 26 percent, the UK at 19 percent, and California at 13 percent. The global average is 8.6 percent so Australia has a long, long way to come,” Jake Whitehead, EVC head of Policy, said in a media release.
“We know from all the research that Australians are keen to get behind the wheel of an EV, but they just aren’t getting the access that other markets get. Because our governments have lagged behind the world on EV policy, Australia is still something of an afterthought for global EV manufacturers. So Australian consumers have a smaller range of EVs to choose from and they are also being forced to wait for many months or even years to take delivery of new vehicles,” he added.
Whitehead also stated that the new federal government understands EV opportunities and is working on EV strategy.
“Although that strategy will need include a range of measures, high on the list must be fuel efficiency standards,” he says. “If Australia does not introduce fuel efficiency standards on par with the EU and the US we will continue to lag the world by a huge margin. Given transport makes up 19% of Australia’s emissions we also can’t say we’re serious about achieving our 2030 emission reduction target without fuel efficiency standards.”
