Electric cars in Down Under - increasingly electric

Whenever you think of Australia, you picture in your mind hopping kangaroos, parched steppes, sport-loving inhabitants and a handful of turbulent metropolises. Sydney is one such city that among world cities is usually only mentioned in the second or third tier. Situated on a protective harbour basin with a unique history, it is with around five and a half million inhabitants significantly larger than many think. If you add the other million-plus agglomerations Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, you see how sparsely populated the country is with its more than 7.5 million square kilometres of area. Sydney is, despite its numerous historic buildings, a modern, distinctly young city. This is also evident in the street scene, because joggers, pedestrians and cyclists have long been setting the tone here. The narrow streets are crowded and even for short distances one must plan for longer times. Not only because the harbour basin, countless tunnels and the legendary Harbour Bridge are car bottlenecks that cost time – day after day.

Off-road performance in the Outback is crucial

After General Motors closed its last local Holden plant, the Australian car industry lacks a flagship. With 1.2 million new vehicles in 2025, the car industry Down Under is nevertheless doing quite well. Outside the big cities, almost everything in the road scene revolves around pickups, and even between the narrow canyons of Sydney or Melbourne there are Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger or Mitsubishi L200 to be seen at every corner. Most of these are heavily modified with mud-terrain tires, air snorkels, LED auxiliary lights, and bull bars are an absolute must. Daily, in each state, there are serious collisions between kangaroos or armadillos and cars. No wonder that even many overland buses, police or ambulances are equipped with protective grilles. The domestic car market in Australia is dominated by Toyota, which sold just under 240,000 vehicles last year. In second place by a huge margin were Ford (94,000) and Mazda (91,000), followed by the South Korean duo Kia (82,000) and Hyundai (77,000 vehicles). More than 60 percent of the more than 1.2 million new registrations in 2025 are crossovers—mostly with all-wheel drive. The best-selling car: the midsize Ford Ranger pickup.

Tesla loses ground in Australia

But those who look closely see that among the pickup trucks with open cargo beds under the blazing sun, even in the Southern Hemisphere more and more electric cars are mixing in. The blue Mini Aceman stands out in traffic not only because of its bold coloration. Tourists and locals turn around when the compact crossover rolls by almost silently. From the tourist district The Rock, it goes past Cruise Terminal over the Harbour Bridge to North Sydney. Here is one of the few fast charging stations, because even though electric cars with a sales share of 8.3 percent are becoming more popular, there is little progress at the charging stations. At the BP gas station there are at least two fast chargers – at a mere 75 kW. Even the market leader Tesla operates hardly any Superchargers in metropolitan areas such as Sydney. At charging stations such as Ridge Street, Queen Street or at Cammeray Square the cost per kWh ranges between 0.60 and 0.75 cents – 0.38 to 0.60 euros. Sometimes parking costs are added, and in the garages they are gigantic – quickly more than 15 euros per hour. After all, beside the charging costs, the fueling costs are also manageable. A liter of petrol costs 1.70 Australian dollars – around one euro.