Tesla and BYD lead EV sales slump in August, despite price cuts and new models

• SEPTEMBER 4, 2024

Electric car sales in Australia have dipped for the second month in a row during August – despite multiple existing EV makers cutting prices across their line-up and introducing multiple new models.

The latest data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) shows that 5,892 battery electric vehicles were sold in Australia in August – a share of just 5.9 per cent of the overall new car market.

The data is now split into two sources following the breakaway of Tesla and Polestar from the main car lobby group, the FCAI. It reported 3,434 EV sales from the car makers it represents, while the Electric Vehicle Council revealed 2,458 sales from Tesla and Polestar.

Both brands, however, are sharply down from a year ago, with Model Y sales nearly halving from 2,314 in August last year to 1,300 in August this year, and down from 1,335 in July, although the Model 3 was up to 1,063 from 999 in the same month last year. Polestar 2 sales fell to 62 from 225 a year ago ahead of the release of the Polestar 3 and the Polestar 4...

EV sales have gradually been coming down and August represented the second lowest month of EVs by percentage this year after January, which had 5.5% of EV sales during the month.