The Australian Automobile Association’s (AAA) EV Index quarterly update shows Australians are continuing to embrace electric vehicles (EVs) with the total sales for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in 2023 up 161.05%, or 53,807 vehicles year-on-year.
The EV Index online data dashboard, produced by the AAA, shows that from 2022 to 2023 BEVs accounted for 7.51% of sales in the light vehicle market segment, up from 3.24%, with 87,217 battery electric vehicles sold last year.
Hybrid vehicle sales were also up according to the AAA EV Index data for Q4 2023, rising by 20.36%, or 16,653 vehicles year-on-year. Though still accounting for less than 1% of new vehicle sales, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) sales did rise with 11,219 cars sold in 2023, an 88.97% year-on-year increase.
Sales of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles remain very slow with just six sold in 2023, down on the 15 purchased in 2022.
The AAA said the sales figures confirm a clear trend of growth for BEVs and hybrids and a gradually shrinking market share for internal combustion engines (ICEs) which dropped to 3.06%, down 5.19% year-on-year. The association did however caution quarterly fluctuations disguise annual trends for all three fuel types.
The strongest sales for BEVs, hybrid and ICE were in the second, third and fourth quarter respectively, where BEVs outsold hybrids in the first two of 2023, hybrids outsold EVs in the third and fourth and national ICE vehicle sales grew quarter-by-quarter though sales in each state varied.
South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory, and the Australian Capital Territory have all shown in increase in EV sales compared to the previous quarter, while in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland sales fell slightly compared to the previous quarter.
Of the 21,474 light vehicle EV sales in the December quarter, the top three were Chinese manufactured Tesla, BYD and MG. The largest BEV sales from October to December 2023, were 8,469 medium SUVs, according to Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) data.
The AAA’s EV Index collates information from multiple national, state and territory sources, including information provided by the FCAI.
Author: Ev Foley
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