Electric vehicles continue to make inroads into Hawaiʻi's market. But across the Pacific, there's a market that's growing faster — and with some new developments.
Electric vehicles are on a tear in Australia.
In October, they outsold gasoline-powered cars for a third month in a row.
Carsales.com Australia says if you toss hybrid models into the mix, the combined market share is more than half of all light vehicle sales. That's about double the level of similar sales in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Administration.
There's another big difference: in Australia, the most popular electric vehicles are produced in China.
That includes Teslas built in Shanghai, and cars made by Chinese automakers from BYD to MG.
Australia has imported Chinese cars since 2009.
Earlier this year, China overtook Japan as Australia's leading source of all imported cars.
In the U.S., electric vehicles made in China face a 100% tariff dating back to the Biden Administration, along with restrictions based on concerns about software, hardware and connected technology.
A group representing major automakers is backing bipartisan bills in both houses of Congress that would establish a permanent ban on all Chinese vehicle imports into the United States.
