Australia has passed its tipping point in the shift away from petrol and diesel cars, Chinese auto giant BYD says, as new national sales figures show battery-electric models outsold petrol-powered vehicles last month for the first time.
Australians bought 27,078 fully electric vehicles, accounting for one in four new car sales – edging out petrol vehicles (25,824) and diesel models (23,608), industry figures showed last week.
When plug-in hybrids are included in the count, battery-powered cars accounted for 36 per cent of the market, while combined sales of petrol and diesel vehicles tumbled below the 50 per cent mark. Conventional hybrids made up the remainder.
Auto executives and analysts describe the shift as a milestone for a nation that has trailed many other markets in embracing EVs.
“The pendulum has swung – the shift is now absolute,” said Paul Ellis, a spokesman for BYD. “It’s going to continue to increase.”
Until recently, Australia had widely been considered a laggard in the uptake of electric vehicles, held back by limited model choice, high prices relative to other markets, and concerns among some consumers about whether battery-powered cars had the power and the range to cover vast distances.
But electric vehicle sales have surged this year, as more Australians have sought to insulate themselves from sharply rising petrol and diesel prices due to the war between the United States and Iran cutting off global oil supplies. At the same time, an influx of lower-cost Chinese models has brought EV prices down, to be competitive with piston-powered vehicles.
Ellis said consumer attitudes had shifted, reducing reluctance about EV uptake, as more Australians gained experience with electric cars.
“Myths have been busted,” Ellis said. “People are seeing first-hand that they are easier to drive, offer better performance, and word has been spreading.”
The shift is a tailwind for efforts to slash vehicle emissions, which are polluting the atmosphere and worsening global warming. However, the pace of change poses a new challenge for governments, the auto industry and electricity companies : ensuring there are enough public chargers to cater for this year’s influx.
More than 80,000 electric vehicles had hit the road in Australia in the past three months alone, said Riz Akhtar, founder of consultancy firm Carloop. Akhtar said August 2026 sales were the “clearest sign that drivers were sick of paying high prices at the fuel pump … going full electric and ditching petrol or diesel cars altogether.”
Drivers were “making the switch faster than ever”, but fast-charging infrastructure was failing to keep up, he added. Carloop data shows NSW had 515 fast-charging sites as of last month, while Victoria had 396. “That’s going to be the biggest challenge as we expect over 30,000 more electric vehicles on Victoria’s roads, leading up to Christmas,” Akhtar said.
BYD’s Ellis said some prospective EV buyers were concerned about access to public charging points, not for their regular daily commute, but for longer regional road trips. “We’ve gone from ‘range anxiety’ to ‘charging anxiety’ – ‘Is there going to be a charger in Bendigo when I go there for the weekend? Will the chargers be available? Am I going to have to queue?’
“Infrastructure needs to be increased – it’s happening rapidly, but probably not quickly enough to match sales.”
Last month, a major new survey of more than 42,000 members of the National Roads and Motorists Association (NRMA) found drivers of petrol and diesel vehicles were now more anxious about high fuel costs than electric vehicle owners were about funding a place to charge.
NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said the ascending sales figures showed that longstanding barriers to EV adoption were steadily falling, and 2026 would be remembered as a tipping point. “This is not a flash in the pan,” Khoury said.
Toyota remained Australians’ most popular car brand in August, with 19,712 sales, down 5 per cent from a year earlier, according to the monthly sales figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries and Electric Vehicle Council. In second place was BYD, up 68 per cent to 8231, followed by Tesla, up 160 per cent to 7685.
Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said August’s EV sales surpassing petrol cars for the first time was a “landmark moment”.
“Australians have seen through the scare campaigns and are voting with their wallets for cars that are cheaper to run, cleaner and reduce their exposure to international petrol prices shocks,” he said.
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Nick Toscano is a business reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
