Electric vehicles Australia: Tesla sales up but infrastructure lacking, made in China, coal-powered

The number of electric vehicles in Australia is set to surpass 100,000 within months, but charging infrastructure – dependent on coal and gas – is lagging behind.

Demand for EVs has never been higher, with 4,000 brand new Teslas arriving from Shanghai into Port Kembla, south of Sydney, on one ship alone on Boxing Day.

Since then, another eight ships loaded with Chinese-made Teslas have arrived in Australia in 2023 as Elon Musk‘s company enjoys record-breaking local sales. 

But Australia’s biggest car seller Toyota has so far refused to jump on the EV bandwagon and barely competes in the current market.

Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda – grandson of the firm’s founder – will quit the company in April after fervently rebelling against the EV hype.

He has railed against proposed bans on the sale of new internal combustion engine cars – with California, the EU and Canberra all planning to phase out fossil fuel-powered vehicles by 2035.

Mr Toyoda believes the world is rushing to embrace EVs before the infrastructure is in place to support them, saying the public is simply not yet ready for them.

The number of electric vehicles in Australia is set to smash 100,000 within months – but the infrastructure behind the green road revolution is still lagging far behind

Demand for EVs has never been higher, with 4,000 brand new Teslas arriving into Port Kembla, south of Sydney, from Shanghai on one ship alone on Boxing Day

Australia’s biggest car seller Toyota refuses to bow down to the EV mob and its CEO Akio Toyoda – grandson of the firm’s founder – quits in April after rebelling against the EV hype. Tesla’s supercharger network map shows vast swathes of the country still do not have access to fast chargers

‘Because of my strong passion for cars, I am an old-fashioned person in regards to digitalisation, electric vehicles, and connected cars,’ Mr Toyoda admitted.

‘Just like the fully-autonomous cars we are all supposed to be driving by now, EVs are going to take longer to become mainstream than media would like us to believe.’

Despite Mr Toyoda’s pessimism, Tesla’s Model 3 was January’s number one medium sedan over $60,000 in Australia, outselling the Mercedes C-Class by an incredible seven to one, with 2,927 sold compared to just 408 of the German saloons.

The newly-released Model Y also marginally outsold its nearest rival, the BMW X3, by 386 units to 384 last month as the nation’s number one medium SUV over $60,000.

Overall the Model 3 was Australia’s third biggest-selling car at the start of the year, and of the near-85,000 cars sold in January, 10,426 – more than 12 per cent – were EVs, hybrids or plug-in hybrids, including almost 5,000 EVs.

They offer high performance – often matching elite supercars many times their price – with virtually no servicing and low running costs, especially if charged off-peak at home. 

But the rapid rise in production could come at a high price. 

A study funded by the eco-friendly philanthropic Rockefeller Brothers Fund warns the demand for lithium for EV batteries could trigger war, while the environmental cost of mining may cause droughts.

Achieving Zero Emissions with More Mobility and Less Mining by the Climate + Community Project has now called for manufacturers to urgently find alternatives.

‘Proposed or ongoing lithium mining has concerning implications for drought intensity, ecosystem biodiversity, and threaten cultural landscapes and economic livelihoods,’ it warns.

They fear the increasing need could see countries fight for access to the lithium mines which are in just a handful of locations around the world, including Australia, Chile and Portugal.

‘The massive uptick in demand is already producing supply bottlenecks for EV production, slowing EV uptake, calling into question their affordability, and stoking geopolitical tension as nations compete for access to lithium deposits,’ it adds.

At the end of last year, 83,000 EVs were already on the road in Australia, including 17,000 hybrids, out of around 20 million cars in total. 

But the nation has less than 5,000 charging stations at around 2,500 locations to support them, with huge swathes of the country effectively inaccessible to EVs as a result.

Even Tesla’s much-lauded dedicated supercharger network is limited or non-existent in remote areas, while other company’s chargers are often out of order or busy when drivers arrive, leading to long delays and frustration.

And while most EV owners charge their cars at home – many using their own solar power supply – charging stations are powered by the grid, which was still 71 per cent generated by fossil fuels in 2021.

The most recent figures show coal was still fuelling more than half of Australia’s power generators in 2021 at 51 per cent, with 18 per cent from gas and 2 per cent from oil.

Renewables only produced 29 per cent of electrical power across the nation in 2021, although that figure was up 5 per cent on 2020. Solar supplied 12 per cent, wind 10 per cent and hydro 6 per cent.

As a result, Toyota insists its hybrid cars – which combine petrol engines with battery power – are actually more eco-friendly than pure EV cars.

‘Toyota can produce eight 40-mile (64km) plug-in hybrids for every one 320-mile (514km) battery electric vehicle and save up to eight times the carbon emitted into the atmosphere,’ said Mr Toyoda, one of the few openly EV-sceptical bosses left in the car industry.

The company has pledged to spend $70billion on hybrids and pure electric vehicles, shared evenly over the next nine years, as it explores various future possibilities.

It’s also developing hydrogen fuel cell cars as another eco-alternative – and Mr Toyoda insists the future is not guaranteed to be EV-based.

‘People involved in the auto industry are largely a silent majority,’ he said. ‘That silent majority is wondering whether EVs are really OK to have as a single option. 

‘But they think it’s the trend so they can’t speak out loudly…The right answer is still unclear, we shouldn’t limit ourselves to just one option.’

Volvo already has Australian-built electric trucks and Tesla made its first US deliveries of its 800km-range Semi truck to Pepsi in December

Tesla’s futuristic Cybertruck is said to be unlikely to meet Australian safety standards for pedestrians unless radically redesigned for the local market

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His company has so far largely avoided the pure EV market, with just one fated attempt, the BZ4X – a converted petrol SUV – which was doomed when the wheels literally fell off.

Despite Toyota being the world’s second biggest car manufacturer, Tesla produced 650 times more EV cars than the Japanese giant in 2022.

Toyota sold just 14,000 pure EV cars across the world last year. Tesla is set to do close to that figure in one quarter in Australia alone this year. 

Toyota plans to bring 15 new EV models to the market in the next few years, but its investment in EVs of less than $4billion a year is tiny compared to rivals.

Even Ford – which has also dragged its heels on pure EVs, with only an electric van currently available in Australia – plans to invest $30billion in EVs in 2025, with five new EVs in the pipeline.

Industry experts warn Toyota is in danger of being left behind as Tesla and Chinese brands like Polestar, Byd and MG emerge as major players alongside Korea’s Hyundai and Kia, while European brands like VW, BMW, Volvo and Audi are also rushing out new models. 

‘For me, playing to win also means doing things differently,’ insisted Toyoda. 

‘Doing things that others may question, but that we believe will put us in the winner’s circle the longest.’

Toyoda’s exit in April is now tipped to see Toyota accelerate its interest in the EV market, and experts say the manufacturer still has time to catch up in the marketplace while EV development remains in its early days.

The next challenges for the EV industry are haulage companies and tradies.

Trucks could prove easier than expected by drivers simply swapping over huge battery packs at truck stops to avoid recharging delays. 

Volvo already has Australian-built electric trucks and Tesla made its first US deliveries of its 800km-range Semi truck to Pepsi in December.

But the bid to lure tradies to come on board could prove more difficult.

The current technology means electric utes are almost twice the price of conventionally-powered rivals.

Electric utes need even bigger batteries to generate the power they need to carry heavy loads, which cost even more time and money to recharge, and weigh almost twice as much.

And once the utes are fully loaded, their range instantly shrinks.

They pose the greatest challenge to widespread EV adoption within Australia as the technology currently stands until battery capacities increase and electric motors efficiency improves – and costs come down dramatically.

Tesla’s futuristic Cybertruck may struggle to meet Australian safety standards unless its sharp-edged design is radically remodelled for the local market.

Production on Ford’s huge EV F150 Lightning ute has also been temporarily halted in the US after it hit problems with its batteries.

And Energy Minister Chris Bowen was called out by 2GB’s Ben Fordham this week for promoting the $90,000 Chinese-made ute, LDV eT60 being trialled by electricity network provider Transgrid.

‘It’s good to see Transgrid making this smart investment to get the first commercially available electric utes on the road for their business,’ Mr Bowen said. 

Electricity network provider Transgrid is trialling the Chinese made LDV eT60 electric dual-cab ute, seen here being spruiked by Energy Minister Chris Brown

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Fordham slammed: ‘How many tradies will be rushing out to buy an electric vehicle at this price?

‘I can’t see that many people lining up and saying, ‘I’m going to spend $90,000 on an electric ute made in China when I get a Ford Ranger or a Toyota HiLux for $50,000.’

‘I’m not talking down electric cars here, I’m just pointing out the realities about what we’ve got currently.’ 

Trent Nikolic, managing editor of Drive.com, said that while the ute has a range of about 330km, in reality, for many tradies it would only be about 150km given how much they load up their vehicles with gear.

‘I think it’s less about the price at the moment, which is ridiculous and more about the capability,’ he said.

‘LDV quotes the range of that vehicle as 330km. If that battery were in a car, it would be about 500, because the ute is about three tonnes.

‘Then if you go anywhere near the vehicle’s tow rating or load capacity, you halve it [the vehicle’s range].

‘They don’t work for people in rural areas out of the urban fringe, people who tow a lot of weight or people who live on farms.

‘The commercial sector, utes, trucks, busses and things like that, they’re the worst- case scenario to put forward an argument for electric vehicles.

‘Vehicles that are constantly on the road and are rarely parked up and left idle – they’re no good for electric vehicles at all.’ 

Fordham said the pitch for electric vehicles would be more suited to those living and working in the city as Aussies in rural areas require a vehicle that can travel long distances without needing to be recharged.

‘There’s no way in the world that Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen will be able to meet their target of 89 per cent of new car sales being electric by 2030.’

Mr Nikolic agreed and forecasts that Australia will have a 30 per cent uptake of electric vehicles by 2030 because they’re not suitable for many carbuyers.

‘You’ve got to have the money to buy one first, you’ve got to have the ability to charge it at home and you’ve got to ideally not be relying on public charging infrastructure at the moment, because there’s not enough of it yet.’