Kendall Balon ordered her all-electric BYD Atto 2 in early December knowing she had a five-month wait before slipping behind the wheel. A few months into the lengthy wait and the fuel crisis hit. It’s taken six months to arrive.
“I am not sure what is going to happen to all the people that have ordered now because of the fuel crisis,” the Manly local said.
She is not alone in that uncertainty. Across the Northern Beaches a surge in electric vehicle demand driven by fuel price spikes, supply disruptions and growing distrust of petrol dependency is stretching dealership stock and pushing wait times out for new buyers.
Electric vehicles (EVs) now account for 14.6 percent of all new car sales nationally, double their share from 12 months ago, while overall new vehicle sales fell 3.3 percent in the same period – encouraging progress toward Australia’s 2030 target of 50 percent, but still well behind Vietnam’s 40 percent and the United Kingdom’s 20 percent, which was surpassed in 2025.
On the Northern Beaches, 4,866 EVs are now registered with around 550 of those added since the Iran conflict began.
Recently, more residents are seemingly reaching the same conclusion: why stay dependent on something that keeps letting you down?
“Who knows what the charging infrastructure is going to be like in a few months when all these EVs start flooding the roads.”
At Polestar’s Artarmon showroom, the brand’s single busiest location in Australia, Managing Director Scott Maynard said: “We have seen test drive bookings triple and traffic to our showrooms is also well above typical volumes we would expect to see this time of year.”
Stock is tightening as a result with the Polestar 2 fastback sedan running low and minimal Polestar large SUV inventory remaining.
“We are fortunate to have had no build restrictions or issues; manufacturing has remained unchanged across our range of vehicles,” Maynard said.
Any low stock is simply attributed to high demand.
At Col Crawford Motors, Brookvale, Dealer Principal Josh van Raad said EV and plug-in hybrid enquiry is approximately 20 percent above normal with battery EVs already accounting for 16.5 percent of total dealership sales in the first quarter.
Although going electric solves the problem of future fuel shortages for customers it raises new questions about what comes after delivery.
“The money saving aspect, especially with everything going on and petrol prices, is a big draw,” Balon said.
“There are some really great novated lease options available for new EVs, but it does seem like the government is slowly rolling back their incentives since the start of the year, which seems counterintuitive to me.”
Chris Kendrick, General Manager at the Chery dealership in Brookvale, said he had “definitely seen a shift in demand for hybrid and EV models since the war started.”
While he agreed EV vehicles were the future, he added “it may still be cheaper to buy petrol cars even with inflated fuel prices.”
The Chery petrol vehicles have a particularly low entry point.
“Chery has the Tiggo 4 which is now priced at $22,900 for the Urban model. If you are just using the car to whip around the beaches, then you’d go that model over a more expensive EV if you are shopping on overall cost,” he said.
But the EV market is catching up, an entry level BYD hatchback is about $27,000. Hearing from many readers that there were wait times of six months, like our story subject Kendall, we popped in and sent multiple follow up queries to BYD, who are based in Brookvale. We did not hear back, but given theri own website has an automated message declaring unprecedented demand and reassurance that plenty of stock is on the way, it’s safety to assume they’re still busy…
Mackellar MP Dr Sophie Scamps shared some dealer concern that incentives were being wound back, but added she was glad to see the government retain the Fringe Benefits Tax exemption for another two years.
“If the Federal Government is going to wind back this incentive, every dollar saved must be reinvested into continuing the acceleration of EV uptake,” Scamps said.
As a renter without access to a home charger, Balon will depend entirely on the public network, and she is already wondering whether it will hold up.
“Who knows what the charging infrastructure is going to be like in a few months when all these EVs start flooding the roads,” she said.
According to Northern Beaches Council there are currently 26 dedicated on-street public EV charging locations across the area, alongside several charging stations at commercial sites.
Based on CSIRO projections, meeting future demand will ultimately require 973 Level 2 chargers, 112 Level 3 chargers and 14 Level 3 fast chargers across the local government area.
“For many apartment residents and renters, particularly those without off-street parking, reliable and convenient charging is still not guaranteed,” Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries CEO Tony Weber said. “These are real, everyday constraints that shape how quickly the market can transition.”
At the state level, the NSW Government has announced a $100 million investment to tackle the shortfall, prioritising faster chargers on major highways and in metro areas, more kerbside options for those without home access and the training of 2,000 mechanics in regional NSW.
