EV Council says Australia needs a tenfold jump in electric car sales to hit 2035 target

Record first-half sales, but a tenfold challenge ahead

An electrified vehicle was sold roughly every 100 seconds somewhere in Australia during the first half of 2026, with a record 157,958 electric vehicles sold in the six months to June, more than double the same period a year earlier, according to the Electric Vehicle Council's latest annual figures reported by the Sydney Morning Herald. Fully battery-electric vehicles accounted for 103,716 of those sales and plug-in hybrids the remaining 54,241, lifting electrified cars to more than one in every four new vehicles sold and pushing the national EV fleet past 612,000 vehicles by the end of June. ³²

The State of EVs 2026 report, released by the Electric Vehicle Council on Wednesday, found combined electric and plug-in hybrid sales rose 117 per cent in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period of 2025. CarExpert, which attended the council's media briefing, reported the council's head of legal, policy and advocacy, Aman Gaur, saying the battery-electric fleet had just tipped over 500,000 cars but that figure "needs to increase by 10 times to hit the 2035 target". ²¹

The council's chief executive, Julie Delvecchio, told AAP that the 2026 figures represented "a structural shift in the cars Australians are choosing, rather than a temporary spike", noting the stark contrast with the council's first annual report in 2017, when motorists purchased just 2284 electrified vehicles. She described a "powerful combination" of greater vehicle availability, improved affordability and the cost-of-living benefit of running an EV, telling the Sydney Morning Herald: "Against the backdrop of extreme fuel volatility this year, more and more Australians are voting with their wallets by switching to an EV." ²³

As context for the market's growth, CarExpert reported that EVs reached a record 24.9 per cent share of total new-vehicle sales in August, when the Tesla Model Y was the top-selling model outright for the month ahead of the Toyota RAV4 hybrid and Toyota HiLux. Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said August figures showing battery-electric sales of 27,078 ahead of petrol-only vehicles at 25,824 for the first time were a "landmark moment". ¹³

Fuel prices and cheaper models drive the surge

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the sales boom reflected soaring petrol and diesel prices, which reached their highest average level since April amid oil-supply disruption tied to conflict involving the United States and Iran, combined with an influx of lower-cost, predominantly Chinese brands offering electric models priced close to, and in some cases below, comparable petrol and diesel vehicles. ³²

Consumer sentiment appears to be shifting alongside sales. A survey of more than 42,000 NRMA members, released last month, found drivers of petrol and diesel vehicles were more anxious about high fuel costs than electric vehicle owners were about their biggest worry, finding somewhere to charge. NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said the growth indicated longstanding barriers to adoption were evaporating and that 2026 would be remembered as the tipping point, adding: "This is not a flash in the pan." ³

Calls to extend the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard

The Electric Vehicle Council is urging the federal government to begin work on extending the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard beyond 2029. CarExpert reports the standard came into effect on January 1, 2025, setting caps on CO2 emissions across each automaker's model lineup, with penalties for brands exceeding their caps and tradeable credits for those below them. The caps currently decrease annually only to 2029, and the standard contributes to the government's 2035 target of a 62–70 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared with 2005 levels on the path to net zero by 2050. ¹

Mr Gaur told the CarExpert-attended briefing that if the standards were not updated by the federal transport minister by the end of next year, they would stagnate at 2029 levels, directly affecting sales because vehicle efficiency standards had driven the increase in EV supply. Citing Climate Change Authority estimates, he said hitting the lower 62 per cent band of the 2035 target would require five million battery-electric cars on Australian roads. ¹

Under the current standard, the CO2 cap for Type 1 passenger vehicles falls from 141g/km in 2025 to 117g/km in 2026, 92g/km in 2027, 68g/km in 2028 and 58g/km in 2029, while Type 2 vehicle caps fall from 210g/km to 110g/km over the same period, according to figures published by CarExpert. The outlet noted the 2029 passenger cap of 58g/km is not achieved by any purely combustion-powered or even hybrid new model currently available in Australia, with Toyota's Yaris hybrid emitting 76g/km. Caps for 2030 and beyond remain undetermined, and the council says it is working to establish what passenger-fleet emissions levels would be consistent with the 2035 target. ¹

Commercial fleets lag and charging must keep pace

Battery-electric models account for just one per cent of Australian van sales and 0.6 per cent of truck sales, according to the Electric Vehicle Council, with Mr Gaur telling AAP that "trucks are left eating dust" because of insufficient financial support for small businesses running freight operations. The council's report, described in Sydney Morning Herald coverage, calls the transition of electric vans and light trucks, which still represent less than one per cent of their respective markets, one "happening at a crawl" and labels freight electrification "the biggest unseized opportunity in Australia's transition". ²³

The report recommends governments remove restrictions on heavy electric vehicles and introduce tax concessions or financial assistance, extend the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard beyond 2029, implement a national road-user charge that does not discourage EV purchases, and assist disadvantaged households. The Sydney Morning Herald adds the council is seeking a nationally coordinated charging roadmap and a "fair" federal road-user charge, with funds directed into local charging infrastructure. ²³

Public charging infrastructure has expanded but demand is growing faster. The council's report found charging locations grew from 476 in 2017 to 4268, and the Sydney Morning Herald reported the network has grown 235 per cent from its previous count in June 2025 to more than 4000 locations. However, the report warns the greatest risk is that the pace and quality of charging development fail to keep up with uptake, potentially producing queues, black spots, unreliable equipment and limited options for people who cannot charge at home, and notes that charging problems are highly visible enough that a small number of poor experiences could dent public confidence among first-time EV owners. ²³

State rankings and the road from 2025

The State of EVs 2026 report ranked state, territory and federal transport policies, placing the federal government, NSW and the ACT on top, while Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory ranked equal last with a score of two out of 10 for low scores on ambition and efforts to electrify buses, freight vehicles and government fleets, AAP reported. Victoria received a "pass mark" for its electric heavy-vehicle trial, and the report noted many states have removed their EV rebates. ²

The council's assessment of Australia's progress has shifted markedly in a year. In its October 2025 report, the council estimated the passenger EV fleet at just over 410,000 units and warned Australia was falling behind the uptake needed for government emissions targets, saying more than 50 per cent of new car sales would need to be electric by 2030, according to Argus Media. It then advocated a national target of one million EVs by the end of 2027, and estimated 2025 EV sales share at around 11.4–12.3 per cent, with June 2025 hitting an all-time monthly high of 16 per cent, while noting EV sales of nearly 72,760 units in the first half of 2025 and total new car sales of around 608,800 units in the same period. ⁴

That trajectory underscores the scale of the turnaround the council is now reporting. From a fleet of roughly 410,000 in September 2025 and first-half 2025 EV sales of about 72,760, battery-electric registrations alone reached 103,716 in the first half of 2026 and the overall electrified fleet passed 612,000 by the end of June, with battery-electric cars alone passing 500,000 in recent weeks, according to the council's figures reported by AAP, the Sydney Morning Herald and CarExpert. ²³¹⁴