Car Yards Empty As EV Sales Surge in Australia

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In response to rising petrol and diesel costs and the uncertainty of where they will peak, March has seen a surge in Electric Vehicle sales across Australia and New Zealand. Reports of rapidly increasing search numbers — doubling each week — according to reports in the main stream media led me to investigate further. Now I am hearing of car sale yards being emptied of any sort of electrified vehicle and waiting lists growing longer. Prices for second hand EVs have also increased. Dealers have been warned not to sell their demonstrators.

I have had so much feedback that I have decided to focus on Australia for this article — an article about New Zealand will follow.

Each month we meet with like-minded friends to chat, talk EVs, and enjoy the hospitality of the Bracken Ridge Tavern. At our meeting just a few days ago, EV drivers provided these comments and vignettes:

Ron of the four-car pileup story was bringing a dealer with a GAC Aion UT for us to see, but he couldn’t because he had sold the 20 he had in stock. The dealer told Ron he had a delivery coming in of 60 units and 41 had already sold.

One member of our group has a son-in-law who works for BYD. His dealership has sold out. Another member of the group says his local BYD dealership sold 31 cars in one morning. He reports that BYD is selling up to 800 cars per day in Queensland, “riding the panic wave with 30,000 extra cars ordered to keep up — on top of normal orders.” One member of the group used to work for a large Hyundai dealership — his ex-work colleagues tell him that they “had cleaned out their yard of hybrids and EVs.” The consensus of the group was: “If petrol hits $5AU a litre we will be the only cars on the road.” With the federal government reducing petrol and diesel excise to 26 cents per litre, petrol now sits around AU$2.30 and diesel at around AU$3.

Majella and I plan to upgrade to a Model Y sometime in the next 12 months. We had a bit of spare time early in the week and dropped into the Tesla delivery centre. It was packed; staff were busy. When we were approached, I told the apologetic saleslady that we weren’t in a hurry and would come back — she was most relieved. There is now a four-month wait for the delivery of a new Model Y in Australia.

The planet going up in flames was not enough motivation for people to change to electric, but the cost increases and uncertainty caused by Donald’s war in Iran are selling electric cars in the thousands! There has been a media report every evening for the last week about the surge in sales. The FUD tide is receding. Here is a good example from the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC).

I wondered if this was just a local phenomenon, and so consulted with my Facebook braintrust, placing the following request on several electric vehicle pages: “Hi all, I am hearing rumours of empty EV car lots and dealers running out of stock. Anyone got photos or stories they would like to share for an article for Cleantechnica? Many thanks, David.”

I received an avalanche of responses from Australian and New Zealand car drivers. Some thought it might be an April’s Fools Day joke.

Here is a selection, or you can read them all on Facebook:

• Just like toilet paper in 2020
• A friend bought a Tesla last week, salesman went to sleep with over 1,000 cars in stock, woke up the next morning to them almost all sold, maybe 12 left.
• A massive and sudden shift from rumours of tens of thousands of unsold EVs in paddocks.
• Talk to the dealers … mine is shattered. He mentioned a 50% conversion rate of sales from test drives.
• I wonder how the sales of ICE cars are going?
• I’m also hearing the same rumours that some demo stock at BYD is out
• I was looking at a second hand MG4 in South Australia, but stocks have dried up pretty well there. I’m        sure new cars are fine, it’s the already deprecated units I’m keen on.
• While I don’t have any numbers, used car stocks of EVs have definitely dropped.
• Plenty of EVs coming off the ships. KIAs and Hyundais are what I work with but see lots of BYDs as well.
• New South Wales EV registrations were up ~50% Feb to March.
• I delayed a little (was doing research and looking at which BYD full EV to purchase prior to the fuel crisis). I delayed my decision by a week, and it went from 4 options to buy off the lot to one… luckily it was the Seal I had set my eyes on, but I did a ring around in central west NSW to try and source a premium for the longer range with no luck. One dealer told me that they are completely out of demos and have been told not to sell their next lot of demo vehicles. If this is true, there will be demo BYDs but a wait if you choose to order. A week ago, it was 6-8 weeks. I’d imagine this is longer now.
• I called around recently to purchase something under $AU40k and it definitely felt like everything was sold out unless I was happy to wait 6-8 weeks. Luckily found one with 1100km on the clock and purchased it asap.
• The EVs on the lots near me have the same stock as a couple of months ago. I do live in a regional area though and they tend to believe Sky News/Murdoch anti-EV articles and aren’t too smart.
• VW ID Buzz there were heaps in the carpark of our local dealer 2 months ago. Now completely empty. We had to travel. I regret waiting.
• Local Kia dealer had lots of EVs in their yard 5 weeks ago, MGs and KIAs, Port Kia. Went for a test drive with a neighbour in an EV3 and Mg4 now they only have 1 new EV5 GT on their website been no stock there for a few weeks now.
• I own EV-NRG and I can confirm home charger sales have exploded. We’re also seeing notable uplift on public charger usage.
• Just before it all hit the fan, I was due to meet with a truck EV manufacturer/distributor to help with their marcomms. Between when we booked the meeting and the scheduled date, the fan was hit, so they sheepishly contacted me and apologised, saying they’d gone from quiet to run off their feet and about to run out of stock. The consumer behavioural change has been surprising. Every cloud….
• Here in Perth, they’re very busy. Delivery wait times are blowing out. Since covid people are used to waiting, little yard stock. Some dealers I know have managed to shift old (new) stock though (like a 24 Kona hybrid at full RRP).

• With Jaecoo J5 hitting 4000 sales and 2000 in the last 2 weeks, availability and delivery times are a concern.
• I just bought from a BYD dealer in south Brisbane. We got in just before the rush. When we picked it up there was only a few models left, mainly the higher spec models. I asked when the next shipment is coming, informed May/June.
• Had a test drive booked in for a hybrid ute yesterday whilst my ute was being serviced. When I got there, they had to give me a petrol SUV. Every fully electric and hybrid car at the dealer was sold out.
• In August last year I bought a second hand 2020 Kona electric through Carsales. It had done 55k km and was still under warranty at the time. I paid $24,000. Very happy with it — great car! At the time there were plenty of 2019–2020 Konas in the $24k–$29k range — just in Sydney. I look in Carsales now and there is only one 2020 Kona listed in all of Australia and it is $38,500 (!!!) with 95k km on the clock.
• There are heaps of BYDs at the main sale centre in Wollongong.
• I went to BYD Reynella a fortnight ago to look at vehicles. They had no Atto 3, Seals or EV Sealions left to show me. I’m on a waitlist to just see one and test drive it.
• 6 weeks ago, there was over 2000 EVs on EasyAuto123 website. Yesterday they had only one and that was gone by close of business (in Perth).
• I was occasionally checking out a used EV site but when I last checked every car was sold.
• Australian Capital Territory dealerships overwhelmed with buyers but little stock. They’re pulling sales staff from partner ICE vehicles lots. Ain’t it great!
• I work near the BYD holding yard at Pinkenba in Brisbane. It was running low a month ago, with a steady flow of trucks. It’s a lot fuller now but there are trucks constantly going in and out. Even though it looks fuller, cars aren’t staying there long at all.
• At the end of February, a Brisbane dealer group (Bartons) registered over 150 old stock MG4s as demos. They sold them all in less than three weeks.
• I was just at an EV dealer to look at a vehicle; they had none in stock and the one I was looking at was already sold and the customer was due to pick it up as soon as I had looked at it. He is expecting more in May.
• The Geely dealership at North Lakes was packed with EX5s in February. I drove past yesterday afternoon, and about half the yard was empty.

[Gary very kindly shared these photos below. The first photo from months ago has the cars packedd in tight, the second from yesterday has fewer cars, spread out. Look closely.]

• This last Wednesday, while our EV was being serviced, we walked around all the car dealers. This is a city in rural Australia with five dealers. All were being swamped with requests and had no stock left. So, it’s happening. Perhaps you could pick a town or city in rural Australia and contact the dealers directly.

In summary, some EVs are scarce in some places. Prices for new and used are going up in most places. Some buyers are being quoted an increase of AU$8,000–10,000. Cars will get moved around to meet demand. Delivery dates are being stretched out. This is a rapidly changing situation, but the trend is electric! You can read more here. Looking forward to the hard data next week, and in coming months to see how the interest has translated into penetration.