WhichCar

Australia's most popular electric cars in January 2024

Here are the electric cars that are racking up the most deliveries in Australia

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Gallery4

It's a new year and there's a fresh (if familiar) leader following a fairly soft month of vehicle electric sales.

Snapshot

  • BYD outsells Tesla in Australia for the first time ever
  • EV sales share slips compared to last year
  • Tesla deliveries impacted by quarantine and regulatory snags

Last year saw a 161 per cent increase in EV sales for a 7.2 per cent market share, though 2024 is off to a slower start with electric models accounting for 5.4 per cent of January's record 89,782 sales.

It can largely be attributed to a slow month for Tesla – thanks to shipping and compliance issues – that allowed China's BYD to leap ahead with 1310 registrations to Tesla's 1107.

There are a few new faces on the scene, with Subaru's Solterra, LDV's eDeliver 7 van and Renault's Megane E-Tech appearing in the charts for the first time.

Along with improved Tesla supply, these new vehicles – including Toyota's soon-to-arrive BZ4x and Volkswagen's electric midsize SUVs – are set to drive EV share up to the industry-anticipated 10 per cent by 2025.

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The updated 2024 Tesla Model 3

Come 2025, the government's proposed New Vehicle Efficiency Standards will be enshrined, potentially bolstering EV sales.

Ahead of the standard, though, FCAI chief executive Tony Weber noted the continued success of combustion-engined utes and SUVs.

“The continuing preference for SUVs and utes demonstrates the challenges the Commonwealth Government is facing as it works to introduce a New Vehicle Emissions Standard (NVES)”, he said.

“Even with the current incentives offered by the Commonwealth and State and Territory Governments, sales of battery electric vehicles appear to have plateaued during recent months", added Mr Weber

Model 3 takes first place despite delivery pause

Tesla's month may have been weak, but it's still the second-most popular EV brand with just two vehicles.

And the Model 3 took top spot (722, 🥇) in the face of a delivery pause to rectify centre seat top tether compliance issues.

Then came the BYD Seal, a newcomer electric sedan that's beginning to find its stride in the sales charts (589,🥈) likely due to its affordable price and impressive WLTP driving range figures.

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Disappointingly for Model Y fans, the midsize SUV was knocked out of the top three by both the MG 4 small car (537,🥉) and BYD's Atto 3 small SUV (465).

It comes after a ship carrying Tesla's typically popular Model Y (384) was sent back from Brisbane to China in January after a quarantine check found yellow-spotted stink bugs onboard.

BYD managed to sneak another model into the top 10 in the Dolphin small car (256) ahead of the Kia EV6 (199, up 352%) which had an excellent January.

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We're still waiting for on final Volvo XC40 Recharge Pure Electric numbers, but with an estimated 166 sales based on prior sales splits, it should slip into seventh ahead of the Polestar 2 sedan (151), and MG ZS EV small SUV (111).

Supply of BMW's excellent i4 looks to be improving with the introduction of a new i35 base grade and its deliveries counted 93 in January ahead of the GWM Ora (88) and Mercedes-Benz EQA (62).

Vehicles that seemed to struggle in January included both of Hyundai's E-GMP-based products, the Ioniq 5 (48) and Ioniq 6 (42).

Top 10 best-selling electric vehicles in January 2024

Mind the (data) gap

We're still waiting for some manufacturers to confirm monthly sales figures for electric variants of combustion vehicles.

*Estimate based on prior sales performance

RankMake and ModelJan 2024YTD 2024
1Tesla Model 3722722
2BYD Seal589589
3MG 4537537
4BYD Atto 3465465
5Tesla Model Y384384
6BYD Dolphin256256
7Kia EV6199199
8Volvo XC40 Recharge PE*166166
9Polestar 2151151
10MG ZS EV111111

And the rest...

BMW iX1*100100
BMW i49393
GWM Ora8888
Mercedes-Benz EQA6262
Mini Hatch*6060
BMW iX3*6060
Volvo C405959
Ford Mustang Mach-E5959
Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV5656
Hyundai Kona*5050
Cupra Born4949
Hyundai Ioniq 54848
Kia EV94747
Hyundai Ioniq 64242
Kia Niro4040
Porsche Taycan4040
BMW iX2424
Mercedes-Benz EQB2424
Mercedes-Benz EQC2020
Lexus RZ1818
Audi e-tron1515
Nissan Leaf1414
Genesis GV601212
Subaru Solterra1111
Audi e-tron GT1010
Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV1010
LDV eDeliver 788
Mercedes-Benz EQE77
LDV T60/T60 EV 4X244
Jaguar I-Pace22
Renault Megane E-Tech22
Mercedes-Benz EQS11
Lexus UX00
BMW i5*00
LDV eDeliver 9*00
Genesis Electrified GV70*00
BMW i700
Genesis Electrified G80*00
LDV Mifa900
Mercedes-Benz EQV00
Mazda MX-30*00
John Law
Journalist

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