The number of new electric cars in Australia has grown from half a dozen models to more than 30 in just five years.

While Australia’s early electric car offerings came from established brands such as Nissan, BMW and Mitsubishi, the development of zero emissions vehicles from companies including Tesla, MG and Hyundai has allowed more motorists to ditch petrol and diesel power.

However, when did you last stop to think about where electric cars in Australia come from?

Research compiled by Drive shows there are 32 different models of electric cars on sale in Australia today, with more than 70 variants between them.

Starting prices range from $44,381 plus on-road costs for the BYD Atto 3 up to $351,000 for Porsche’s Taycan Turbo S.

Of the 32 electric cars in Australia, eight are made in China, Germany and South Korea, two in the UK and Japan, plus one each in France, Hungary, Austria and Belgium.

Our Chinese imports include the aforementioned BYD Atto 3, MG ZS EV, Polestar 2, Tesla Model 3 and Model Y, Volvo XC40 and C40 Recharge plus the BMW iX3 – the latter of which is the most expensive electric car from that country.

While a majority of electric cars from China are focus

ed towards budget-conscious buyers, the cheapest German-made model – the Mercedes-Benz EQA – is priced from $78,513 plus on-road costs.

Mercedes-Benz’s EQA and EQC are two of the cheapest electric cars made in Germany, although the $328,400 EQS53 AMG has the highest starting price for an ‘entry-level’ variant.

Additional electric cars built in Germany include the BMW i4, iX and i7, plus the Porsche Taycan and Audi E-Tron GT twins.

South Korea’s eight electric cars all come from the Hyundai-Kia conglomerate – two from Kia (Niro and EV6), three from Hyundai (Ioniq, Kona Electric and Ioniq 5) and three from Genesis (GV60, Electrified GV70 and Electrified G80).

Despite being owned by Japanese and German companies respectively, the Nissan Leaf and Mini Cooper SE are both manufactured in the UK.

The Mazda MX-30 and Lexus UX300e are the only two electric cars currently made in Japan for Australia, despite industry giant Toyota’s heavy reliance on hybrid vehicles and plans to launch a wide range of battery-only cars in the coming years.

The Renault Kangoo ZE, Mercedes-Benz EQB, Jaguar I-Pace and Audi E-Tron are helping to prop up the electric car industries of France, Hungary, Austria and Belgium, respectively.
Make/ModelCountry of origin
BYD Atto 3China
MG ZSChina
Hyundai IoniqSouth Korea
Renault Kangoo ZEFrance
Nissan LeafUnited Kingdom
Hyundai Kona ElectricSouth Korea
Mini Cooper SEUnited Kingdom
Polestar 2China
Kia NiroSouth Korea
Mazda MX-30 ElectricJapan
Tesla Model 3China
Hyundai Ioniq 5South Korea
Tesla Model YChina
Kia EV6South Korea
Volvo XC40 RechargeChina
Lexus UX300eJapan
Volvo C40 RechargeChina
Mercedes-Benz EQAGermany
Mercedes-Benz EQBHungary
BMW i4Germany
Genesis GV60South Korea
BMW iX3China
Mercedes-Benz EQCGermany
Genesis Electrified GV70South Korea
Jaguar I-PaceAustria
Genesis Electrified G80South Korea
Audi E-Tron (SUV)Belgium
BMW iXGermany
Porsche TaycanGermany
Audi E-Tron GTGermany
BMW i7Germany
Mercedes-Benz EQS53Germany

Extracted in full from: https://www.drive.com.au/news/where-are-australias-electric-cars-built/

 

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