Australia's most popular electric cars in January 2024

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

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

And the rest...