Electrics and hybrids the shining lights in bleak year for petrol, diesel car sales

The Driven

Perhaps 2019 could go down as the year when the transition to electric vehicles started to take shape in Australia.

Like the rooftop solar industry a decade earlier, sales of electric and hybrid vehicles remain low – but there is a definite trend here and every reason to believe that the uptake of EVs will be quicker over the next decade than even that of rooftop solar over the last 10 years.

Official data for calendar 2019 released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries tells what is becoming a familiar story: Sales of petrol and diesel cars are plunging, down 7.8 per cent from the previous year to the lowest level since 2011.

The story that goes with it is the same: the FCAI blames everything from slower wages growth, tight lending, exchange rate movements and even “the extreme environmental factors our country is experiencing.”

What it doesn’t highlight, but what is clear from its data, is the strength of the electric and hybrid markets, the only two sectors that have enjoyed substantial sales growth over the past year, a story that is likely to be repeated until fossil fuel vehicles becomes a rare offering in the new car market.

To read the full story on RenewEconomy’s electric vehicle dedicated site, The Driven, click here…