EV sales hit record 10 per cent in February

The latest figures from Vfacts showed Tesla bouncing back from a lacklustre January hit by a stink bug fiasco that saw a shipful of its inventory turned back by customs.

This was thanks by and large to sales of the new 2024 Tesla Model 3 known as the “Highland”; 3,593 new Model 3s were handed over to driver’s in February, making up 35 per cent of 10,111 all-electric car sales.

This, plus 2,027 Model Y sales saw Tesla overtake BYD (which had taken the EV crown in January off the back of Tesla’s misfortunes) with 5,620 sales, accounting for 55 per cent of the EV market.

Meanwhile, BYD reported 711 Atto 3 sales, 619 Seal sales, and 219 Dolphin sales – 1,549 in total.

MG followed in behind with 446 MG4 sales. We await certain model figures and will update this article when data comes to hand. Notably, the latest figures also included 208 Toyota bZ4X sales (we are confirming with Toyota if any of these have yet been delivered to customers.)

Other all-electric best-sellers for the month included the Kia EV6 (192), the BMW i4 (128) and the Volvo XC40 Recharge (143).

Best-selling EVs in February, 2024

Year-to-date, the best-selling EVs are as follows (pending updated sales figures from carmakers with EV models that share a name with their internal combustion engine equivalent:) 

While the EV industry’s 9.6 per cent market share is a record, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) which issues the Vfacts figures noted that utility vehicles account for double this.

But out of the 21,327 utes sold in February just one was battery-powered.

With the utility vehicle market significantly contributing to Australia’s transport emissions, the figure underlines the need for a strong New Vehicle Efficiency Standard to ensure drivers can benefit from a choice of drivetrain in all vehicle segments.  

The Australian Capital Territory continues to lead the way in EV market share, if not volume. Out of the 453 vehicles sold in the capital in February, 188 were all-electric. NSW led the way on volume and came second in market share, hitting 11.1 per cent with 3566 EV sales.

Western Australia also surpassed 10 per cent with 1233 EV sales and Queensland followed with 8.4 per cent of the market – 1894 EV sales in total. Victoria saw 2311 new EVs hit the roads, comprising 8.1 per cent of the market. South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory slid in with 7.8, 6.7 and 2.8 per cent sales respectively.

EV sales state-by-state in February, 2024 

In regards to preferred vehicle style, all-electric SUVs proved to be the favourite for NSW in February (1829 SUVs were sold compared to 1731 electric passenger vehicles, which includes everything from hatchbacks to sedans and sports cars.)

However, the reverse was true for all other states. Victorians bought 1233 electric passenger vehicles compared to 1047 electric SUVs, and Queenslanders bought 1083 electric passenger cars compared to 806 electric SUVs. Similar figures were seen in other less populated states except in the Northern Territory, where northerners bought 12 of each.