Australia’s EV industry gains momentum – report

Australia’s electric vehicle industry grew slightly last year, but there’s considerable room for improvement.

So says a report released on June 15 by the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) and ClimateWorks Australia.

It says that’s on the back of global trends, media interest and growing consumer awareness at home.

The state of electric vehicles in Australia Second report: Driving momentum in electric mobility found there were improvements in EV

sales, as well as an increase in the range of models available and charging stations numbers.

A significant increase in media interest in EVs is seen by EVC chief executive officer Behyad Jafari.

He says that’s occurred alongside a notable growth in EV sales.

“While Australia still trails behind the global leaders in electric vehicle uptake, with EVs

making up 0.2% of new car sales in the Australian market, we have seen a number of small but

important shifts across the range of EV indicators in 2017,” Jafari says.

“The report found there were 2284 EVs sold in Australia in 2017, representing a 67% increase from the previous year.”

EV models available in Australia have also increased, from 16 to 23 in 2017. Charging stations increased from 476 locations in 2017 to 783 sites in 2018 (64%).

Nine new plug-in hybrid and battery EV models expected to be introduced during the next 18 months could also boost uptake. Five of the models are likely to be $60,000 or less.

“Business continues to be the largest buyer of EVs, accounting for 63% of sales in 2017,” Jafari says.

That mainly includes manufacturer fleets and dealer demonstrators.

Private buyers account for 34% of sales.

EV sales in government fleets remain at 3%.

Governments could use their greater purchasing power to encourage a broader uptake of EVs in fleets, helping investment through lower priced EVs and in charging infrastructure, Jafari says.

“Australia has much to gain through improved public health, energy security and increased economic investment from the electric vehicle industry. While this has been recognised by developed countries around the world, Australia continues to fall behind,” Jafari says.

Urgent government policy support is required, he says.

ClimateWorks Australia implementation manager Claire Painter says the report shows EV sales and public charging infrastructure roll-out increased in all states and territories from 2011 to 2017, but the rate of uptake differed.

Victorians bought the highest number of EVs – 1324 vehicles between 2011 and 2017.

“This was closely followed by NSW with the number of EVs purchased between 2011 and 2017 totalling 1238, which was the greatest percentage increase over the last seven years,” Painter says.

ACT continues to outperform other states and territories in market share. In 2017, ACT residents purchased 21 EVs for every 10,000 vehicles sold.

The Queensland Government’s Electric Vehicle Superhighway has helped boost DC fast chargers in that state from five last year to 24 in 2018.

While City of Adelaide initiatives helped increase charging infrastructure there from 42 to 76 in a year.

Download the report