Wait times for some of Australia’s most popular electric vehicles are stretching from the usual two or three weeks to as long as two or three months as manufacturers scramble to keep up with a sharp rise in interest triggered by the latest Middle East oil tensions and the hit to household budgets from higher fuel prices.
This rush is playing out across the finance and policy landscape as well as car yards. One of the major banks reports that loans for EV purchases have jumped by around 161% in a single month while inquiries through its car-buying assistance platform are up roughly 136%, showing that many drivers are at least considering switching away from petrol even if they have not yet placed an order. At the same time, federal authorities are reviewing generous tax concessions for salary-packaged EVs after costs ballooned while state governments signal fresh electrification measures aimed at making cleaner cars affordable for average households rather than just high-income buyers.
On the ground, the tightening supply is starting to bite but has not yet reached the chaos seen during the height of COVID-era shortages. A major Chinese manufacturer now quotes two to three months for its leading models, up from two to three weeks, although it still holds substantial stocks of other cars with shorter delays. A large Japanese brand reports average national waits of three to six months across its range, a European EV maker says test drives have tripled in the past fortnight with limited stock for some models and dealers generally see one to two month delays across most EVs with longer waits for the most in-demand versions. Auction data paints the same picture, with one national auction group saying every EV offered last week sold, the average sale time has dropped to under 10 days and some cars are fetching up to $13,000 above their reserve.
The broader system is now straining to catch up. Electricity network operators in New South Wales argue that if they are allowed to directly own and fund public chargers as regulated network assets, they could install about 22,500 chargers in five years and help put another 500,000 EVs on the road by 2050, but critics warn this could mean higher power bills even for households that never buy an EV. The state is updating its EV strategy in light of the fuel shock while the federal government’s green investment bank has committed $100 million to subsidise low-interest loans for new and used EVs across multiple European brands via a major financing arm, with the aim of cutting standard loan rates by up to 1 percentage point across more than 460 dealerships. It all suggests Australia looks like it is accelerating towards electrification, but how fast the transition happens and who pays for the supporting infrastructure remains an open question, especially if further oil disruptions or shipping constraints from key manufacturing hubs emerge.
