Polestar Australia says the surge in electric vehicle (EV) sales in Australia is driven not only by record prices at the pump, but also by concerns about potential fuel supplies.
In conversation with Daily Sparkz Speaking at the 2026 Melbourne Motor Show, the Swedish brand’s local managing director Scott Maynard said record fuel prices were not the main reason why electric vehicles reached an unprecedented 14.6 per cent share of new car sales last month.
“When the government talks about a four-tier fuel rationing plan and uses the word ‘rationing’ in that plan, and when the media learns that there are about 200 servomotors across New South Wales that are now running out of either petrol, diesel or both, then I think that motivates people,” the Polestar boss said.
The latest figures from Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen on April 13 show that 202 petrol stations nationwide were out of diesel, while 99 stations were out of unleaded petrol – which Maynard said was pushing people to switch to electric vehicles.
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“They (electric vehicle buyers) want to be independent of that fuel supply and be able to power a car from multiple sources, as independent as solar energy, rather than being tied to oil supplies from distant lands.”
While reports focused on the cost savings of charging an electric vehicle compared to refueling – with record prices driving the cost of refueling Australia’s best-selling vehicle, the Ford Ranger, with 80 liters of diesel towards $300 – Mr Maynard said ongoing costs were not the main motivator.
If this were the case, the sales push would be focused on budget electric vehicles such as the BYD Atto 1, which costs $23,990 before on-road costs, rather than models within the Polestar range, which starts at $62,400 before on-road costs for the 2026 Polestar 2 Standard Range Single Motor and goes up to $146,700 for the Polestar 3 Performance Plus.
“The buyers we are talking to right now are motivated by fuel safety, not price,” Maynard said Daily Sparkz.
“You want a certain level of independence from oil supplies – so the ability to charge your car at home, to be able to charge your car at public charging stations or even to be able to charge your car for free via a rooftop solar system, which is very attractive to buyers of all types of cars at the moment.”
Polestar Australia recorded 160 sales in March, down from 182 last year when there were three full-time models in showrooms. The brand is currently transitioning to a Polestar 3 for the new model year, with orders still to be processed.
In the first three months of 2026, local sales rose 19.6 percent to 465, contributing to Polestar’s best-ever first quarter result with 13,126 global deliveries.
“I think it was already building up before (the fuel crisis),” the Polestar Australia boss said.
“The market responded so quickly to the changes (in fuel supply and price), and I think that’s because they already had (the purchase of an electric vehicle) in their minds.”
“We saw in the first quarter (January to March) that electric vehicle sales (in Australia) were almost double, at 88.9 per cent, while the overall market was down 2.6 per cent.
“We’ve seen the share of electric vehicles in Australia increase to around 14.6 per cent market share – so there’s a lot of interest.”
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