SYDNEY — Electric vehicle (EV) sales in Australia hit an all-time high in 2023, according to the country’s automotive association, however light vehicle sales remained dominated by emissions-intensive trucks and sports utility vehicles (SUVs).
Battery-electric vehicles were 7.2% of all vehicles sold last year, more than double the 3.1% recorded in 2022, according to data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) on Thursday.
The sales share for 2023 rises to 16.2% of all new vehicle sales once hybrids and plug-in hybrids are included, almost one in every five vehicles.
After a decade under conservative governments that opposed EV adoption, the current center-left Labor government, which won power in 2022, has launched a national EV strategy and provided hundreds of millions for clean transport.
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Transport is one of Australia’s largest sources of emissions and the growing adoption of electric vehicles bolsters the government’s pledge to cut emissions by 43% by 2030.
However, Australian’s continue to prefer SUVs or light commercial vehicles, models which usually come with higher emissions when fossil fueled. The two categories accounted for 78.4% of all new vehicle sales last year.
The Ford Ranger and Toyota Hi-Lux, the two most popular vehicles and a tenth of all those sold in 2023, tend to emit more carbon dioxide than average.
Efforts to increase the take-up of electric vehicles have long been plagued by shortages, a limited number of models and sparse and sometimes faulty charging equipment.
As a result adoption for many years lagged countries like the US or Britain, where sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids hit 7.7% and 23%, respectively in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said in November the government would soon release details of its long-awaited fuel efficiency standards, a policy that advocates say will spur manufacturers to send more EVs to Australia and further boost adoption. — Reuters