Electric vehicles surge ahead as petrol car sales stall

Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson | October 7, 2026

Rising fuel costs and changing attitudes are driving change in Australia’s automotive market, with figures showing motorists bought more new battery-electric vehicles than petrol-powered models for the second consecutive month. 

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries confirmed the trend in its latest sales report and revealed electric car sales had more than doubled during September and made up almost a quarter of new vehicles purchased. 

Hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicle sales also rose sharply during the month, while petrol vehicle sales slumped by more than 36 per cent compared to the same time in 2025. 

Electric vehicle sales have accelerated rapidly in Australia since petrol and diesel prices started climbing in March, with a report from the Electric Vehicle Council recently finding motorists were buying one of the cars every 100 seconds. 

Battery-electric vehicles represented almost one in every four new cars sold during September (24.1 per cent) as motorists snapped up more than 26,200 new models. 

The tally put electric cars ahead of petrol models for the second consecutive month, and comfortably in front of diesel-powered vehicles.

Greater competition and more choices had helped motorists make the switch to a different powertrain, chamber acting chief executive Dianne O’Hara said, and the shift kept attracting new buyers. 

“The changes seen throughout this year are continuing,” she said.

“Many consumers are making practical decisions and selecting from the range of available technologies that best meet their needs.”

Sales of petrol-powered cars were down by 14,757 compared to September 2025, while diesel vehicle sales dropped by more than 18 per cent or 5693 models. 

By comparison, hybrid vehicle sales rose by 20 per cent and plug-in hybrid sales more than doubled since the same period in 2025. 

Despite the electric surge, the Ford Ranger topped the list of Australia’s best-selling vehicles for September, followed by the Toyota RAV4 hybrid SUV and Tesla’s Model Y. 

Toyota also retained the title of Australia’s top vehicle brand, although electric and hybrid car maker BYD narrowed the gap between the two most popular brands. 

Many households had adopted electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles to cut their bills, Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Julie Delvecchio said, as they could reduce fuel costs by up to $3000 a year.

“Whether that pace of growth continues is difficult to predict,” she said. 

“Fuel prices certainly don’t look like they’re returning to the levels Australians were once used to.”