40,000th Tesla for Christmas
Santa has a bumper sack of presents for electric vehicle lovers in Australia. At our monthly Coffee, Cake, & EVs morning tea, Veda Prime announced that the 40,000th Tesla will be delivered before Christmas this year. Only a few months after Robin Denholm announced that Tesla expected to double the number of its vehicles on Australian roads by the end of the year, it looks like the prophecy is soon to be fulfilled. Teslas for Christmas.
Most EVs on Australian roads are Teslas, and most of them are white. Although there is a trickle of other cars coming in, it is likely to be that way for some time. The BYD Atto 3 and the MG ZS EV are fighting it out for second place. I am hoping that MG will realise its price is too high and we will end up with a sub-A$40,000 EV soon. If not, it will get ugly when the BYD Seal and Dolphin swim into our shores, closely followed by the slinky ORA Cat. Indeed, 2023 is shaping up to be the year of the more affordable EV.
In November, Tesla delivered 1,805 Model Ys and 391 Model 3s; BYD delivered 845 Atto 3s; and MG (SAIC) delivered 361 MG ZS EVs. Around 700 other EVs from various brands also reached the hands of eager owners.
People waiting for the sub-$20,000 EV with 1000 kilometers of range that will tow a caravan might have to wait a little longer. Meanwhile, September saw EVs achieve a 4.7% penetration rate in Australia — more than double last year’s adoption rate.
Let’s get back to those Teslas. Apparently there are 20 ships at various points of transit from Shanghai to various ports on the eastern seaboard of Australia. The smallest is carrying around 100 cars, the largest a few thousand. Mark (Veda) won’t hazard a guess at the final numbers. We will have to be patient to see what January brings. The Brisbane-bound cars are being offloaded as we speak. Ports further south may end up delivering their cargo in the new year.
It will be a busy few weeks leading up to Christmas as Santa’s elves in the Tesla delivery centres prepare their presents for the anxious new owners. Many will be getting Teslas for Christmas, not a lump of coal.
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