Battery-electric vehicles outsell petrol models in August Australian new-car sales

August sales mark a new milestone

Battery-electric vehicles outsold petrol-powered vehicles in Australia’s August 2026 new-vehicle sales for the first time, according to figures reported by The Sydney Morning Herald and Tech Times. The milestone applies to petrol and diesel separately, not to the two fuels combined. The Herald reports 27,078 battery-electric sales, against 25,824 petrol and 23,608 diesel vehicles. Tech Times gives the same petrol and diesel totals but reports 27,089 battery-electric deliveries. Neither account resolves the 11-vehicle difference; both put battery-electric vehicles at roughly one quarter of the month’s market. ³⁵

Including plug-in hybrids takes the share of vehicles capable of running on externally charged electricity to about 36 per cent, according to the Herald. Tech Times reports a different, broader measure: battery-electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and conventional hybrids together made up 53.9 per cent of August sales. Conventional hybrids have an engine and cannot be plugged in, so the two percentages describe different groups of vehicles. ³⁵

The increase is substantial against the same month a year earlier. In its September 18 account, The Sydney Morning Herald put fully electric vehicles’ share of new-vehicle sales at 10 per cent in August 2025 and 25 per cent in August 2026. It said the combined share of petrol-only and diesel-only models fell from 69 per cent to below 50 per cent over that period. ¹

How the year developed

The August result followed growth earlier in 2026. Commonwealth Bank, citing Australian Automobile Association data, said first-quarter sales of petrol and diesel cars fell by more than 11,600 units, while battery-electric and plug-in hybrid sales rose by more than 7600 and 3700 respectively. It also cited Electric Vehicle Council figures showing battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles reached 35.8 per cent of new passenger-car sales in June. The bank cautioned that end-of-financial-year activity and arrivals of pre-ordered cars made June an unusual month. ²

Fuel costs were one factor identified during the rise. Commonwealth Bank said its card-spending analysis showed households feeling higher fuel prices by late March, while its lending data recorded a 161 per cent increase in demand for EV finance in March compared with February. The Sydney Morning Herald also linked the year’s sales growth to higher fuel prices and lower-cost Chinese models. Those observations do not establish how much of the sales increase each factor caused. ²¹

Models, brands and the existing fleet

Toyota remained the top-selling brand in August with 19,712 sales, followed by BYD on 8231 and Tesla on 7685, according to the monthly figures cited by The Sydney Morning Herald. Tech Times reports that the Tesla Model Y led individual models with 6414 deliveries. Its August battery-electric list also places the BYD Sealion 7 on 2213, Geely EX5 on 1947 and Zeekr 7X on 1747. Brand totals include vehicles beyond those individual models and should not be read as battery-electric totals. ³⁵

Choice has expanded as the market has grown. Commonwealth Bank cited a federal National Electric Vehicle Strategy update counting 153 EV models available by June 2025, up from 104 in 2023–24; it said 26 models were priced below $50,000. The bank’s analysis put Chinese brands at 58 per cent of Australia’s EV market in the first half of 2026, up from 35 per cent a year earlier. Those model and price counts are dated June 2025, not August 2026. ²

New-car sales are not the same as the make-up of vehicles already on the road. Commonwealth Bank noted that the vast majority of Australia’s existing fleet still runs solely on petrol or diesel, and cited the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard regulator’s estimate that about 70 per cent of Australians buy second-hand cars. A September article in The Sydney Morning Herald put battery-electric vehicles at an estimated 500,000, or about 3 per cent of the national vehicle fleet. ²⁴

Charging and range remain practical questions

Commonwealth Bank cited federal data showing 1324 public fast and ultra-fast charging sites, with 4138 plugs, by June 2025, compared with 812 sites in December 2023. Its account said around 80 per cent of reported EV charging takes place at home, an option that can be harder for people parking on the street or in shared buildings. In September, The Sydney Morning Herald reported Carloop figures of 515 fast-charging sites in NSW and 396 in Victoria as of August 2026; Carloop founder Riz Akhtar said public fast charging was not keeping pace with the rise in EVs. ²¹

Range claims also need to be distinguished from driving results. Commonwealth Bank cited Australian Automobile Association testing in which none of 20 EVs matched its advertised laboratory range; the reported shortfalls ran from 3 to 31 per cent. Separately, an NRMA Insurance study reported by The Sydney Morning Herald found charging time, driving range and access to public charging remained concerns among people who would not consider buying an EV. Surveyed concerns are not measurements of a particular vehicle’s performance. ²⁴

Repair support and second-hand confidence

The growth in sales is also bringing after-sales support into focus. Motor Trades Association of Australia executive director Bruce Billson told The Sydney Morning Herald that Australia already faced a shortfall of roughly 38,000 mechanics and that work on electrified vehicles required additional training. BYD acknowledged that some Australian customers had experienced long repair times and parts delays. The company said it was expanding its local parts arrangements and was on track for 150 dealerships by the end of 2026; that dealership figure is a target, not a completed rollout. ¹

Battery condition is another issue for the used market. In NRMA Insurance research reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, 54 per cent of respondents considering an EV said they would be open to buying one second-hand, while 82 per cent said there should be a way to monitor and test battery health. The findings describe interest and concerns, rather than completed second-hand purchases. ⁴