Almost one in four new vehicles sold in Australia during September 2026 was fully electric, as our nation’s transition away from petrol and diesel cars continues to gather pace. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for 24.2 per cent of the Australian new-car market in September 2026, which is more than double the 11.3 per cent share recorded during the same month last year.

The surge in EV sales comes despite Australia’s overall new car market remaining relatively steady with 108,778 vehicles sold during September 2026, which is an increase of 1.8 per cent year-on-year using data from both the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries and the Electric Vehicle Council. However, while the total amount of cars registered remained similar, the story behind the numbers looked quite different to how it did just 12 months ago.

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For example, plug-in hybrid sales jumped 122.7 per cent compared with September 2025, while conventional hybrid sales also increased 20.7 per cent. Because of that, demand for internal combustion engined vehicles continued to fall significantly as petrol vehicle sales declined 36.2 per cent year-on-year, while diesel sales were down 18.4 per cent.

The September result continues the huge shift seen so far throughout 2026. Battery-electric vehicles now account for 18.9 per cent of the Australian new-car market year-to-date, compared with just 8.1 per cent at the same point in 2025.

The Ford Ranger remained Australia’s best-selling vehicle with 5062 sales, followed by the Toyota RAV4 with 4624 and Tesla Model Y with 4476. BYD also continued its rapid rise, finishing second overall with 8191 sales – behind Toyota’s 17,682 but ahead of Ford on 7592. Kia followed with 5901 sales, ahead of Mazda (5702), Tesla (5654), GWM (5212), Hyundai (5073), MG (4635), Geely (4473) and Chery (4205).

Whether we’ll see electric vehicles hit 25 per cent marketshare or greater is not yet known, but considering the continued influx of cheap EVs onto the market, we’d say that it’s more than likely by the end of 2026.