The move to electric vehicles is really gaining steam in Australia with the latest new car sales numbers for August 2022 showing growth in EV sales to 4.4%. To the casual observer, this may not seem like a large number, but if we rewind just a few months, this number was hovering around 2%.
With more Australian households than ever considering an Electric Vehicle for their next purchase, its worth considering just how long you’d need to wait if you made the decision to go EV today.
After reviewing the websites of many automakers that sell EVs in Australia (wish there were more), the news isn’t a good one, with many wait times being many months, or completely unavailable.
If you place an order for a new EV today, the earliest you could get one is November, if you’re keen on the EQC and have the budget. Coming under the A$100k price point, Polestar’s compelling P2 offering could be in your driveway as soon as January next year, although that is still 3 months away, not great if you had a lease ending soon, or your vehicle was involved in an accident and needed a replacement.
Next in line is the newest EV to be offered in Australia, the Atto 3 from BYD which could be delivered by January/February 2023. From here we move out to the highest-selling EVs in the country, the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y. Regardless of the model, these both now have wait times of 4-8 months, with some more common configurations likely to be delivered earlier than others in the Feb to May 2023 timeline.
Following this, there’s a really average story to tell. Brands like Kia, Hyundai, MG and Mini all make EVs that are in the ‘affordable’ category but unfortunately have struggled to get supply into Australia. There are many reasons for this, but the end user doesn’t care, they simply get no ability to order.
Other brands like Jaguar, BMW, Audi and Porsche offer online configurators, but then force you to contact dealerships to get further information, but not before taking deposits from you. There’s really no logic to this in 2022, with the digitisation of supply chain management and manufacturing processes, these companies should be able to accurately estimate when a customer would get their vehicles.
Consumers today are shopping online for more expensive items like vehicles, but require the necessary information to make those purchasing decisions. Price is certainly one part of that, but so is availability, something these automakers need to do a lot of work on and surface through their website. Delivery windows are fine, we’re not asking for a specific day here, but to not even indicate which month the customer is likely to see their vehicle leaves most looking elsewhere.
Here’s the full list below, please leave a comment below if you have further information on EV availability in Australia.
- Mercedes-Benz EQC – Est. November
- Polestar 2 – January 2023
- BYD Atto 3 – Delivery Jan. / Feb. 2023
- Tesla Model 3 – Feb 2023 – May 2023
- Tesla Model Y – Feb 2023 – May 2023
- Mercedes-Benz EQS – Unavailable
- Kia EV6 – Unavailable
- Hyundai Ioniq 5 – Unavailable
- Hyundai Kona EV – Unavailable
- MG ZS EV – Unavailable
- Jaguar iPace – Unavailable
- BMW iX – Unavailable
- BMW i4 – Unavailable
- Audi e-tron – Unavailable
- MINI Electric Yours – Unavailable
- Nissan Leaf – Unavailable
- Porsche Taycan – Unavailable
It gets worse. Tesla 3 wait times for Feb 22 have now blown out to Feb 23 with no explanation from the company. Elon Musk needs to return his focus to Tesla!
My Feb 22 Tesla 3 order which was projected to be a 6-9 month is now pushed out to 12 months (est. Feb 23 delivery) with zero explanation from the company and after taking full payment for a December delivery.