Electric Vehicle Index
September Quarter 2024
Internal combustion engines’ (ICE) share of the Australian market continued to decline in the September quarter. More buyers are opting for hybrids and plug-in hybrids. But battery electric vehicle sales also declined, reaching their lowest market share since 2022.
The AAA EV Index online data dashboard analyses all new light vehicle sales across the country. In national new light vehicle sales from Q2 2024 to Q3 2024:
- total sales (all engine types) fell 7.60% (from 312,889 to 289,098)
- ICE sales fell by 9.16% and ICE market share declined by 1.27%
- battery electric vehicle sales declined by 25.10% (from 25,353 to 18,990), and market share fell from 8.10% to 6.57% – the lowest level since 2022
- hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (HFCEVs) still accounted for a tiny fraction of sales.
Despite the decline in total light vehicle sales, sales of conventional hybrids and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) continued to rise. From Q2 2024 to Q3 2024, nationally:
- hybrid sales rose by 3.33% (from 46,727 to 48,282), and hybrid market share rose from 14.93% to 16.70%
- PHEV sales rose by 56.64% and market share rose from 1.49% to 2.53%.
2023-24 National Quarterly New Light Vehicle Sales*
| Fuel type | Q1 2023 |
Q2 2023 |
Q3 2023 |
Q4 2023 |
Q1 2024 |
Q2 2024 |
Q3 2024 |
| ICE | 222,136 | 246,565 | 247,488 | 248,943 | 228,961 | 236,129 | 214,500 |
| BEV | 17,396 | 25,696 | 22,651 | 21,474 | 25,552 | 25,353 | 18,990 |
| Hybrid | 16,101 | 22,212 | 31,418 | 28,708 | 35,003 | 46,727 | 48,282 |
| PHEV | 1,461 | 2,071 | 3,211 | 4,476 | 3,426 | 4,675 | 7,323 |
| HFCEV | – | – | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| All types | 257,094 | 296,544 | 304,770 | 303,605 | 292,944 | 312,889 | 289,098 |
2023-24 National Quarterly New Light Vehicle Market Share*
| Fuel type | Q1 2023 |
Q2 2023 |
Q3 2023 |
Q4 2023 |
Q1 2024 |
Q2 2024 |
Q3 2024 |
| ICE | 86.40% | 83.15% | 81.20% | 82.00% | 78.16% | 75.47% | 74.20% |
| BEV | 6.77% | 8.67% | 7.43% | 7.07% | 8.72% | 8.10% | 6.57% |
| Hybrid | 6.26% | 7.49% | 10.31% | 9.46% | 11.95% | 14.93% | 16.70% |
| PHEV | 0.57% | 0.70% | 1.05% | 1.47% | 1.17% | 1.49% | 2.53% |
| HFCEV | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
Trends
There have been significant quarterly fluctuations over the past seven quarters. But sales figures over that period confirm a clear trend of growth for hybrids, while BEV market share appears to have peaked for now.
In the first half of 2023, BEVs outsold hybrids, but since then hybrids have outsold BEVs in five consecutive quarters. Hybrids are now outselling BEVs even in the ACT, which has long been Australia’s strongest BEV market.
PHEV sales are growing strongly, but this is occurring from a low base.
Incentives and market share
Plug-in hybrids are currently exempt from fringe benefits tax, which can save buyers thousands of dollars a year on a new car under a novated lease — but that benefit will end on 1 April 2025.
Many jurisdictions still offer stamp duty and registration discounts for BEVs. But government rebates for BEV purchases have now ceased in all states and territories, except Western Australia. That state had the lowest September 2024 quarter decline in BEV market share among all jurisdictions (-0.58% compared to -1.53% nationally).
The ACT had the biggest September quarter decline in BEV market share (-6.63%) but it still had by far the country’s highest BEV market share (16.21%, down from 22.83% in the June quarter). The ACT also had the second-highest market share for sales of new hybrids (18.82%, exceeded only by South Australia’s 19.61%), and it had the highest PHEV market share (7.37% — almost triple the national rate of 2.53%).
Fuel types and vehicle types – Q3 2024
Medium SUVs remain Australia’s most popular vehicle segment. In the September quarter, just over half (50.89%) of new vehicles sold in this category were ICE. Almost a third (32.24%) were hybrids; 8.53% were BEVs; and 8.34% were PHEVs. Of the 7,323 PHEVs sold in the September quarter, 6,096 (or 83.24%) were medium SUVs.
| Vehicle Type | ICE | Hybrid | BEV | PHEV | HFCEV | Total sales by vehicle type |
| Medium SUV | 37,209 | 23,571 | 6,235 | 6,096 | – | 73,111 |
| Medium Car | 2,430 | 3,080 | 5,519 | 93 | – | 11,122 |
| Small SUV | 45,760 | 8,376 | 3,397 | 569 | – | 58,102 |
| Small Car | 23,435 | 6,492 | 2,256 | 44 | – | 32,227 |
| Large SUV | 34,696 | 6,133 | 1,288 | 464 | – | 42,581 |
| Large Car | 469 | 2 | 185 | 4 | 3 | 663 |
| Sports Car | 2,748 | 3 | 4 | 53 | – | 2,808 |
| Ute (4WD) | 51,447 | 210 | – | – | – | 51,657 |
| Ute (2WD) | 6,314 | – | 10 | – | – | 6,324 |
| Van | 6,501 | – | 86 | – | – | 6,587 |
| People Mover | 3,491 | 415 | 10 | – | – | 3,916 |
| Total sales by fuel type | 214,500 | 48,282 | 18,990 | 7323 | 3 | 289,098 |
ICE vehicles still dominated the small SUV and large SUV market segments.
ICE also accounted for most sales of small cars (72.72% market share in the September 2024 quarter) and large cars (70.74%). But medium car sales provided a different story – 21.85% ICE; 49.62% BEV; 27.69% hybrid; and 0.84% PHEV.
More than 99% of utes and more than 98% of vans sold were ICE vehicles.
But ICE’s share of the people mover market fell from 97.6% to 89.15% quarter-on-quarter.
Hybrids accounted for 10.6% of people mover sales – up from 2.29% in the previous quarter. After releasing a hybrid model in mid-2024, Kia accounted for the bulk of September quarter hybrid people mover sales. Lexus also offers a hybrid people mover (released in December 2023) but this is a low-selling luxury model.
The remaining 0.26% of September quarter sales in the people mover category were for BEV vehicles.
EV Index
The AAA EV Index charts the progress of Australia’s vehicle technology transition. It collates information from multiple national, state and territory sources, including information provided by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries and the Electric Vehicle Council, used with the FCAI’s and the EVC’s permission.
As well as recording light vehicle sales, it also tracks vehicle registration by fuel type and postcode. The EV Index heat map offers insights into which locations are at the forefront of Australia’s clean vehicle transition. This heat map is updated annually following the September quarter.
The Index is intended to enable consumers, businesses, and fleet managers to see the trends transforming the national vehicle market. Its online dashboard covers light vehicles of all fuel types – BEVs, PHEVs, conventional hybrids, HFCEV, and ICE.
For more information – including state and territory sales figures – see evindex.au
