The regions refer to the Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4) administrative regions as defined by the ABS. These regions are spread across the country and their distribution by jurisdiction are indicated in Table 1, column (4). This complete panel includes all eight Australian states and territories, with the region share of each jurisdiction reflecting relative population shares. The primary unit of analysis is the region, and the key variable of interest is the number of electric vehicles that are registered annually1.
As seen, there is a clear difference in EV take-up rates across the states and territories, all of which offer some form of subsidy or tax relief(opens in a new window) for EV buyers. In 2023, NSW led the pack in terms of EV sales, but ACT was the clear leader in terms of the EV share of the vehicle market at 20 per cent. This is due to three complementary factors unique to the ACT:
(i) The ACT had a high concentration of early EV enthusiasts among locals2
(ii) The ACT Government led other governments in being an early fleet buyer of plug-in hybrids and battery EVs
(iii) The ACT Government also offers EV buyers stamp duty waivers, free registration and zero-interest loans at rates that are far above those offered in other jurisdictions.
Table 1. EV market data and distribution of regions across jurisdictions
| State/Territory | EV sales (2023) | EV market share (2023) | Number of regions by jurisdictions | Average Regional Growth Rate of EV registrations (2013–2020) |
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | |
| New South Wales (NSW) | 14,164 | 8.0 | 26 | 36% |
| Victoria (VIC) | 11,514 | 7.5 | 18 | 23% |
| Queensland (QLD) | 8,683 | 6.8 | 18 | 39% |
| South Australia (SA) | 2,106 | 5.6 | 7 | 20% |
| Western Australia (WA) | 4,005 | 6.6 | 10 | 15% |
| Tasmania (TAS) | 758 | 8.0 | 4 | 17% |
| Northern Territory (NT) | 106 | 2.1 | 2 | 2% |
| Australian Capital Territory (ACT) | 1,815 | 20.0 | 2 | -23% |
| Total | 43,151 | 8.4 | 87 |
Source: Data in columns (1) and (2) are from VFACTS 2023, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries; numbers in columns (3) and (4) are the authors’ calculations from data gathered from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
In column 4, we can see the growth rates of EV fleets across the jurisdictions. The strongest growth was observed in QLD and NSW at 39 and 36 per cent annual average respectively. VIC and SA’s EV fleets grew strongly as well at 23 and 20 per cent respectively. The EV fleets of TAS and WA likewise had healthy growth rates of 17 and 15 per cent respectively. Growth rate in the NT was 2 per cent, and -23 per cent in the ACT. The negative growth rate recorded for the ACT is due to a significant drop in numbers between 2019 and 2020, although this has reversed since 2021 (EVC 2022).
Table 2 presents the variables we assembled for each region between 2013 and 2020. We can see that the average number of the vehicle is 216 330, while the average number of electric vehicles across all regions is about 91. This small number clearly indicates the very slow rate of market penetration of EVs compared to non-EVs. To gauge environmental awareness across the regions, we also collected information on the number of small-scale solar panel system installations and total solar water heater installations per year per region. The total number of solar installations was obtained by adding these two series, providing the variable we used to measure the level of green awareness of each region.
Table 2. Summary Statistics of Key Variables, Pooled, 2013-2020
| Variable | Mean | S.D. | Min. | Max. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of Vehicles | 216,330 | 106,800 | 34,986 | 638,766 |
| No. of Electric vehicles | 91 | 199 | 3 | 2,443 |
| No. of Solar Installations | 3,079 | 2,444 | 89 | 17,569 |
| Total Regional Income ($B) | 10,004 | 6,354 | 841 | 35,761 |
| Population Headcount | 285,963 | 158,055 | 37,545 | 883,260 |
| - Female population | 144,162 | 79,713 | 18,264 | 439,034 |
| - Male population | 141,800 | 78,414 | 19,281 | 444,226 |
| Population density (persons/sqkm) | 691.46 | 1,262.96 | 0.10 | 5,689.20 |
| Education (% completed Year 12) | 48.52 | 12.871 | 27.3 | 75.5 |
| Total Employee Income ($B) | 8,714 | 5,482 | 695 | 30,322 |
| Gini Coefficient | 0.466 | 0.042 | 0.389 | 0.61 |
The average regional income was $10 billion, with a large standard deviation indicating a considerable variation across them. On average, the value of regional employment earnings contributed about 87 per cent of total regional income. There are roughly equal numbers of males and females in each region, and on average one in every two individuals has completed Year 12 or higher. The Gini index of inequality across the regions ranges from 0.389 to 0.61, indicating the existence of a medium to high-level inequality all round. Lastly, there appears to be a strong variation in green awareness across the regions as the number of solar installations varied greatly in the sample.
Footnotes
[1] For this study, we will not distinguish between types of EVs; we will leave that for a future exercise when EV data can allow meaningful analysis from finer partitioning of the count data. Additionally, because we are focused on regions and given the data available to use for club convergence analysis, we have avoided needing to classify adopters into more granular kinds eg government, business and private.
[2] See EVC 2022 report for additional details. For a short historical overview, see The Driven, Canberra fast becoming Australia’s little Norway as EV share hits 19 pct.(opens in a new window)
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