EV Journey

For the first time ever, electric vehicles outsold both petrol and diesel cars in a single month across Australia — and it happened in August 2026.

The Numbers

According to VFACTS data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC), Australians bought 27,078 battery-electric vehicles in August, representing 24.9% of the new-car market. That put EVs ahead of both:

• Petrol: 25,824 sales (23.7%)
• Diesel: 23,608 sales

It’s a milestone moment for a market that has historically been dominated by combustion engines — and it capped a month where the total new-car market itself grew 4.9% year-on-year to 108,760 vehicles.

Growth on a Massive Scale

EV sales weren’t just ahead of the pack — they were surging. Battery-electric sales jumped 171% compared to August 2025, and are up nearly 140% year-to-date. Tesla’s Model Y led the way as the best-selling model overall, its third time topping the charts in 2026.

Electrified Vehicles Now Own Half the Market

Zoom out further and the shift looks even bigger. Add conventional hybrids (18,662 sales) and plug-in hybrids (10,591 sales) to the battery-electric total, and electrified vehicles of all kinds made up 51.8% of everything sold in August — the first time combustion-only vehicles have been in the minority in the Australian market.

Source: VFACTS data via the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC), August 2026.