New data from the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) shows a 40 per cent uptick in Tesla and Polestar sales in Australia for the first quarter of 2026.
This equated to 7725 vehicles sold across the two electric vehicle (EV) brands in the first quarter of 2026, up from 5549 in the same period in 2025. In March alone, a combined 3645 new Tesla and Polestar vehicles were sold – 21.1 per cent year-on-year growth.
EVs accounted for a record 14.6 per cent of car sales in Australia in March, with 15,839 EVs sold in total (from 105,058 vehicle sales).
Car auctions website Pickles is also seeing a groundswell of interest in second-hand EVs, with sales up 60 per cent month-on-month in March and EV searches jumping 163 per cent from February. 82 per cent of used EVs are selling under $50,000, with 43 per cent under $30,000.
“With fuel prices rising, every EV on the road is doing something simple but powerful – taking pressure off fuel supply for the people who need it most,” EVC chief executive officer Julie Delvecchio said.
“Volatile global oil markets are changing the conversation. Australians aren’t asking whether EVs are the future anymore. They’re asking which one they can get their hands on, and when.”
Tesla country director – Australia and New Zealand Thom Drew said the company was ramping up second quarter (Q2) supply to satisfy demand.
“The fuel crisis is pushing Australians to look for more certainty – both on energy and cost of living – and EVs are delivering exactly that,” he said. “We’re seeing strong customer demand clear out local stock, so we’re ramping up Q2 supply, with more vehicles arriving over the coming weeks.”
Delvecchio said we were now reaching a “tipping point”.
“The fuel crisis hasn’t created interest in EVs – it’s accelerated a shift that was already underway,” she said. “Our website saw almost 100,000 page views in the past month, up 71 per cent, with 97 per cent of visitors new to our site.
“The most visited page? ‘EVs available in Australia’. Australians are ready – the industry needs to meet them there.”
While the Federal Government has halved the fuel excise on petrol and diesel to 26.3 cents per litre, fuel prices are still significantly higher than what they were prior to the Iran war.
The Australian Institute of Petroleum found the nationwide average retail petrol price in the week to March 29 to be 253.4 cents.
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