A surge in sales of Tesla and BYD electric vehicles has taken the total EV sales to an all-time high in Australia in September, with battery electric vehicles making up at least 11.3% of the total new car sales in the month.
A record total of 12,076 new EVs were sold in December, with a resurgent Tesla and the fast growing BYD accounting for more than 7,800, or nearly two thirds, of these sales.
Tesla, BYD and other EV brands offered multiple incentives during the month of September to help boost sales, and the last month of the quarter is traditionally a strong one for Tesla, which on a global basis sold a record 497,000 units in the September quarter, driven by a rush to seize remaining rebates in the US.
In Australia, multiple new models from brands such as Deepal and Zeekr also began deliveries for the first time, which contributed to the growing tally.
As per previous months, the data was separated with two suppliers, the FCAI and the EVS, with the former revealing 7,177 EVs – and – as reported on Thursday – the EVC reporting total sales of 4,889 from Tesla and Polestar.
EV Sales Breakdown – September 2025
| FCAI vFacts | 7,177 |
| EVC (Polestar + Tesla) | 4,899 |
| EV Sales Total (FCAI + EVC) | 12,076 |
| Total Vehicle Sales (FCAI + EVC) | 106,891 |
The growth in EV sales has pushed the 2025 year to date total to 76,443, above the 69,962 reported over the first nine months of 2024.
The Tesla Model Y took the top spot with 3,927 sales, followed by the BYD Sealion 7 with its best month of sales, coming in with 1,887 sales.
Third spot was back with Tesla as the Model 3 defied the SUV bias and delivered 736 sales during the month.
BYD also took the final two spots in the top 5 with Dolphin getting 523 sales and the Seal accounting for 450 units in September.
Other notable mentions in September include the Deepal E07 and Zeekr 7X, which made it onto the tally with a few dozen sales to both. Some of these are likely to be dealer and demonstration cars with official deliveries of the Zeekr 7X starting in October.
The best-selling EVs in September 2025 were:
- Tesla Model Y – 3,927 sales
- BYD Sealion 7 – 1,887 sales
- Tesla Model 3 – 736 sales
- BYD Dolphin – 523 sales
- BYD Seal – 450 sales
- Kia EV5 – 307 sales
- BYD Atto 3 – 288 sales
- Geely EX5 – 279 sales
- Kia EV3 – 241 sales
- MG MGS5 – 203 sales
- VW ID.4 – 177 sales
The Driven is waiting to hear back from various manufacturers regarding sales of some EV models, and this will be updated once they are received. See our month by month sales data here.
FCAI CEO Tony Weber said there is now no shortage of battery electric vehicles on the market in Australia.
“With more than 100 BEVs and more than 50 PHEVs available, manufacturers have worked hard to provide Australians with high-quality electric vehicles. What is needed now is a stronger focus on encouraging demand, in particular public recharging infrastructure,” he said in a statement.
“More needs to be done to give mainstream buyers the confidence to consider EVs in the future. We need to move EV ownership beyond early adopters to mainstream Australians if we are to deliver the ambitious transition that the Government is seeking,”.
Going into Q4, the market is likely to be even more competitive – with yet more incentives on offer from various brands – which is ideal for consumers who are currently sitting on the fence considering the switch to electric.
See full details of EV sales for each month of the year in our database here.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.
