Australia's electric vehicle market has continued to have a sluggish start to 2025, according to the latest VFACTS numbers supplied by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
It included data from the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) of their Polestar and Tesla sales, and showed that the Australian market had fallen 7.9% last month compared to February 2024, following a similarly slow January.
Broadly, the total new vehicle sales for February 2025 in Australia came in at 96,710, but battery powered EV's recorded just 5.9% of total sales, compared with 9.6% in February 2024.
“We are now two months into the Government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), and while the supply of battery electric vehicles has risen dramatically, consumer demand has fallen by 37% this year compared with the first two months of 2024," said FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber.
Accounting for nearly all the fall in EV sales in February was Tesla, selling just 1,592 units compared to 5,665 at the same time a year ago, although specific model data is yet unclear.
This comes amidst ongoing political tension and controversy surrounding CEO and founder Elon Musk, as he undertakes his latest role serving in President Donald Trump's cabinet.
Despite this slow start to the year, EVC CEO Julie Delvecchio said that “Electric vehicle sales in Australia remain resilient" and remained confident in a boom of plug-in hybrids.
“Last month, more than 11% of recorded new car sales had a plug, much higher than we have seen in previous years… thanks to brand new models - including the BYD Shark, Australia’s first PHEV (plug in hybrid) ute."
While the BYD Shark has reported more than 2000 deliveries, it still remained outranked by its favoured traditional counterparts; the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux.
