The Aporia · An EV sold every 100 seconds: Australian demand for electric cars more than doubles

An EV sold every 100 seconds: Australian demand for electric cars more than doubles

Read the original at The Guardian ↗

Cite

APA MLA Chicago

editor, D. L. A. (2026, September 30). An EV sold every 100 seconds: Australian demand for electric cars more than doubles. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/30/australia-electric-cars-vehichles-ev-sales-double

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

Australians purchased electric vehicles (EVs) at a record rate in the first half of 2026, with sales more than doubling year over year and reaching one EV sold every 100 seconds. The Electric Vehicle Council reported that 157,957 EVs were sold between January and June, marking an 117% increase from the same period in 2025. This surge is attributed to both policy initiatives like the national vehicle efficiency standard and cost-of-living concerns related to fuel prices. Battery electric vehicles accounted for about two-thirds of these sales, with plug-in hybrids making up the remainder, bringing the total number of EVs on Australian roads to 612,000 by June.

Written by AI on 2026-09-30, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

In the first half of 2023, an electric vehicle was sold every 100 seconds in Australia, marking a significant surge in EV adoption. The Electric Vehicle Council reported that 157,958 EVs were sold from January to June, more than double the number (72,476) during the same period in 2022. Fully battery-electric vehicles accounted for 103,716 of those sales, while plug-in hybrids made up the remaining 54,241. This rapid increase expanded EVs' share of Australia's new car market to over 25%, compared to just 10% a year prior.

Factors contributing to this growth include improved vehicle availability, better affordability, and rising petrol prices, which highlight the cost-saving benefits of electric cars. Despite concerns about range limitations for long-distance travel in such an expansive country like Australia, many barriers are now being overcome as more affordable EV models enter the market. However, despite this progress, electric trucks remain a small portion (less than 1%) of total truck sales, indicating further opportunities for growth in the broader transportation sector.

Written for “Electric Car Sales Surge Australia” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 10% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

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ABC News (AU)

Hedges 4 of 26 claims Outlet record 68/100

“While both articles discuss record-breaking sales of EVs in Australia and cite similar statistics, they do not describe the exact same incident at the same time. ARTICLE A focuses on a report released by the Electric Vehicle Council about the first half of 2026, whereas ARTICLE B highlights the broader trend over a decade with specific mention of monthly data.”

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

10%

2 of 20 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

withheld

no quote in the article backed the model's score

Publisher signals

66/100

The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Technology

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-09-30 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Guardian · 2734 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

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Who wrote this

Donna Lu Assistant editor

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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

Australia Australian Australians Gaur Queensland

Subjects

Queensland GPE · 4× Australia GPE · 3× Gaur ORG · 3× Australian NORP · 2× Delvecchio PERSON · 2× Aman Gaur PERSON · 1× Australians NORP · 1× Julie Delvecchio PERSON · 1× the EV Council ORG · 1× the Electric Vehicle Council ORG · 1×

Narrative

While Australia was no longer a global laggard compared with other electric car markets, buses and cars were “roaring ahead” of electric trucks and vans, for which sales continued to be less than 1% of their respective markets, Gaur said.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-30

🔮 “The diesel buses will be on Queensland roads until the end of the next decade, and they will certainly be polluting the air in Brisbane when the Olympics are held.”

2026-09-30 · The Guardian

An EV sold every 100 seconds: Australian demand for electric cars more than doubles · assertive framing

Claims (20 extracted, 2 hedged)

Australians are buying electric vehicles at record levels, with sales more than doubling year on year and occurring at a rate equivalent to one EV sold every 100 seconds. asserted

sales → buy → EV

A record 157,957 EV sales occurred between January and June – an 117% increase on the same period last year, according to a new report released by the Electric Vehicle Council. uncertain

sales → occur → Council

Comparatively, petrol and diesel vehicle sales decreased by 14% year on year, according to the council’s chief executive, Julie Delvecchio. uncertain

sales → decrease → executive

EVs accounted for one in four new vehicles sold in the first half of the year, up 12.1% from the first six months of 2025, the state of EVs report said. asserted

report → account → EVs

“EVs are being taken up as a cost-of-living measure by households across Australia,” Delvecchio said of the rise, noting that the ongoing fuel crisis was an accelerating factor but was “not the starting gun”. asserted

crisis → take → rise

“It exposed the value of the policy work that had already been done – and made the lower running costs and energy security benefits of EVs much more immediate for Australian households,” she said. asserted

she → expose → households

The new figures include about 104,000 battery electric vehicles and 54,000 plug-in hybrids. asserted

figures → include → vehicles

“We are well on track to hit the target of 1 million EVs on Australian roads by next year,” said Aman Gaur, the head of policy and advocacy at the EV Council. asserted

Gaur → hit → Council

The Australian Capital Territory, where 44% of new cars registered are electric, retained its crown as the nation’s EV capital. asserted

% → register → capital

A key driver of the growing uptake has been the national vehicle efficiency standard, which requires carmakers to supply new vehicles that meet an average per-kilometre emissions target. asserted

that → grow → target

The standard had “substantially increased the options and the price competitiveness of EVs”, with nearly 200 EV models available in 2026, Gaur said. asserted

Gaur → increase → 2026

The council is pushing for the federal government to extend the standard beyond 2029, to align with the government’s 2035 emissions reduction target. asserted

government → push → target

Subdued take up of electric trucks Charging infrastructure had largely kept pace with growing EV demand, the report found, with the number of public charging locations growing to 4,268 across the country. asserted

number → charge → country

Gaur → compare → markets

“Every truck that is electric is an upgrade to Australia’s energy security,” Delvecchio said. asserted

Delvecchio → say → security

“We’ve barely touched the sides on that transition.” asserted

We → touch → transition

The report also found the federal, ACT and NSW governments’ EV policies were “top of the class, while South Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and Northern Territory have gone backwards”. asserted

Australia → find → class

“Queensland and the Northern Territory are … moving to back to fossil fuels rather than trying to electrify their transport systems,” Gaur said. asserted

Gaur → move → systems

“The most disappointing example of this was when the Queensland government recently invested in 630 diesel buses. asserted

government → invest → buses

“The diesel buses will be on Queensland roads until the end of the next decade, and they will certainly be polluting the air in Brisbane when the Olympics are held.” asserted

Olympics → pollute → Brisbane