Plug-in electric vehicles in Australia

In 2008 Australia started producing its first commercial all-electric vehicle. Originally called the Blade Runner, its name was changed to Electron, and was exported to New Zealand with one purchased by the then Environment Minister Dr. Nick Smith.[18][19] The Electron is based on the Hyundai Getz and has proven popular with government car pools.[20]

Two Mitsubishi i MiEVs owned by ChargePoint and Better Place providing test drives during the 2010 Australian International Motor Show in Sydney.

A Better Place charging station in Canberra.

In October 2008, Better Place announced plans to deploy charging network to power electric cars in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in partnership with Australian power company AGL and finance group Macquarie Capital.[21] The initial network deployment was planned to take place in Canberra in late 2011.[22] As of December 2011, 12 public charge spots (power outlets, not battery swap stations) had been installed in Australia.[23] The roll out of the Australian network was initially planned to begin 6 months to a year after the roll out of the network in Denmark.[24]

In December 2012, Renault announced that the launch of the Renault Fluence Z.E. was postponed indefinitely following delays with the roll out of Australia's electric vehicle infrastructure. The electric car was scheduled to go on sale to the public from a number of dealers across the country in the fourth quarter of 2012. Better Place explained that delays in the deployments in Israel and Denmark are reflecting in the Australian roll out, which would take place between 12 and 18 months behind the other markets.[25] Better Place ultimately went bankrupt with the only sign they ever existed being a few lone silver posts standing in (mostly university) car parks. As of 2015, Chargepoint is now the only major operator of a charging network still based and active in Australia.[26]

Beginning in mid-2009, a twelve-month field trial was conducted with the Mitsubishi i-MiEV with potential electric vehicle customers, such as local, state and federal government bodies, and major fleet operators.[27] Leasing for fleet customers began in Australia in August 2010.[28][29] As of May 2011, a total of 110 i-MiEVs had been leased to government and corporate fleets, while retail sales to the public began in August 2011. As of December 2012, 125 i-MiEVs had been sold in the country, 30 of which were sold by December 2011.[30]

A Mitsubishi i MiEV charging in Melbourne.

A two-year fleet trial of 10 converted Ford Focus Electric cars, that also included 14 i-MiEVs and 3 Toyota Prius PHEVs,[31] commenced in Western Australia in 2010.[32] Each converted car was equipped with a 23 kWh battery pack, a 27 kW DC motor and a 1000A motor controller. These cars were then used in the study as regular fleet vehicles to find their usability for everyday driving.[33]

In July 2011, Nissan Australia provided 16 Nissan Leaf vehicles, to be used by both personal and commercial users, for an electric vehicle trial in Victoria.[34] A total of 19 Leafs were registered in 2011, while sales of the Nissan Leaf in Australia began in June 2012—77 units were sold during 2012.[30][35] The Holden Volt, a plug-in hybrid model, was released onto the Australian market by late 2012 and a total of 80 units were delivered during that year.[30]

A total of 258 plug-in electric cars were sold during 2012, with the i-MiEV as the top selling model, with 95 units sold.[36] Sales during 2013 totaled 304 units, up 20% from 2012. The Nissan Leaf was the top selling plug-in car with 188 units followed by the Holden Volt with 101 units. The EV market share in 2013 was 0.036% of total new car sales in the country.[37][38]

As of September 2013, the largest public charging networks exist in the capital cities of Perth and Melbourne, with around 30 stations (7 kW AC) established in both cities—smaller networks exist in other capital cities. An Australian standard for charging connectors does not exist as of September 2013.[39]

Since 2014 Mitsubishi is no longer importing the i-MiEV after slow sales due to the high price and due to competition from the more successful Outlander PHEV for battery components. Sales during the first quarter of 2014 totaled 42 units, representing a 0.015% market share of new car sales,[40] and during the first half of 2014 sales reached 114 units.[41]

Deliveries of the Tesla Model S in Australia began in late 2014.[42] Deliveries of the BMW i3 also commenced at the end of 2014. Sales during 2014 totaled 1,228 units, up 288% from 2013.[43] The plug-in electric segment reached a 0.11% market share of total new car sales in the country, up threefold from 0.036% in 2013.[37][43] The surge in sales was due to the introduction of the Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV, which sold 895 units during 2014, and became Australia's top selling plug-in electric vehicle.[43] Cumulative sales in the Australian market since 2010 reached over 1,950 units by the end of December 2014, up from 304 units in 2013.[30][37][43][44][45][46]

A total of 246 Holden Volts had been sold in the country by mid April 2015, with the stock of the first generation almost empty. General Motors announced that it will not build the second generation Volt in right-hand-drive configuration, so the Holden Volt will be discontinued in the country when the remaining stock is sold out.[47] As of April 2015, the following models are available in the Australian market: Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model S, both variants of the BMW i3 (REx and all-electric), BMW i8, Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV, and Porsche plug-in hybrids, 918 Spyder, Panamera and Cayenne.[47][48][49] Other models scheduled to be launched in the country include the Audi A3 e-tron and the Audi Q7 e-tron.[47]

Driver assistance vehicles operated by the Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia (left, BMW i3) and the National Roads and Motorists' Association (right, Mitsubishi i MiEV).

As of December 2014, a total of 65 Model S cars were registered in New South Wales and only four in Victoria.[44] At the end of March 2015, registrations totaled 119 in New South Wales and 54 in Victoria. Although there were no sales figures reported for Tesla in other states, the combined sales of these two states alone were enough for the Model S to rank as the top selling all-electric car in the country for the first quarter of 2015, ahead of the BMW i3 (46) and the Nissan Leaf (31).[44] Australia's top selling plug-in electric vehicle for the first quarter of 2015 was the Outlander P-HEV, with 198 units sold,[50] again in the first quarter of 2016 ranked as the top selling plug-in with 195 units,[51] and continued as the country's all-time best selling plug-in with 2,015 units sold through March 2016 since its introduction in 2013.[52]

As of December 2016, about 1,000 Nissan Leafs have been sold since its introduction in the country in 2012.[53] The Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV is the country's all-time top-selling plug-in electric vehicle with 2,906 units sold through March 2018.[3]

Plug-in electric cars in Australia grew 300% from just 2,216 sales in 2018 to 6,718 in 2019.[6] Tesla accounted for 70% of these electric car sales, mostly through the release of the Tesla Model 3 in August which accounted for two-thirds of electric car sales in 2019.[8][54] Electric vehicle sales were also stated earlier to have doubled in Australia in 2019 compared to 2018.[55] In 2019, the Electric Vehicle Council expected EV model choices to continue to expand which would consequently promote a significant increase in EV sales in Australia.[56] This is from 22 all-electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) available in 2019 to 31 by the end of 2020.[56] This compares to more than 150 electric car models being available in Europe and elsewhere.[8]

A National Electric Vehicle Strategy by the federal liberal government is being developed which is set to be released in mid-2020.[57] This may include federal tax rebates and direct vehicle subsidies as offered through similar federal government policies in the US and China.[16] Also, a clean car "feebate" could be offered as introduced in neighbouring New Zealand in July 2019 where a discount of $8,000 NZD ($7,700 AUD) is offered towards the purchase of a new electric car.[16] In addition, the Electric Vehicle Council and the principal clean energy transition advisor for Ernst and Young, urged the Australian government to introduce a complete ban on new petrol and diesel car sales from 2035 as seen in the UK, and add hybrids to the black list.[58] As of July 2019, the Australian government offers a higher luxury tax threshold for qualifying low emissions vehicles and the state of Victoria and Australian Capital Territory offer incentives for purchasing and owning electric vehicles e.g. stamp duty exemptions and registration discounts. The Victorian Government encourages the use of electric cars as part of its strategy to tackle climate change with a long-term target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.[59] The Victorian Government is also preparing a Zero Emissions Vehicle Roadmap to be released in mid-2020 to support the adoption of electric vehicles.[60] The New South Wales Liberal Government will also release an electric car strategy with incentives to encourage the use of such vehicles in early 2020.[16] However, currently the ACT offers the most financial and non-financial incentives for purchasing electric vehicles of any state in Australia.[11]

The opposition government in Australia in 2019 also proposed a 50% electric vehicle target by 2030.[61] The Coalition federal government has its carbon abatement policy anticipating electric vehicles to make up 50% of sales by 2030.[56] Furthermore, government analysis in 2019 forecasted 50% of all new cars sold in Australia by 2035 will be electric on the current path.[62] Another government forecast indicated the uptake of zero emissions vehicles in Australia would be at a minimum at least 27% by 2030.[63]

Overview of federal, state and territory government policy as of May 2018[64][11]

policies under consideration are marked o.

Source: Energeia Research; Notes: * Building code changes to require conduit in all parking areas in new buildings to support charging; ** Estimated discounts are for a $60,000 electric vehicle in comparison to a $60,000 medium sized petrol or diesel vehicle; *** SA charging incentive not available outside of Adelaide City, maximum incentive shown for installing level 3 charger.