Soaring petrol prices and travel interruptions due to the US-Iran war have led to an increase in Australians researching electric vehicles.
Retiree, John Giordano recently purchased a brand-new Ford Ranger with the hopes of towing a caravan across the country. He has since had to change his plans and fly to Perth instead; due to the cost of petrol.
“You can get business class tickets to Perth and a really nice hire car for less money,” he said.
“It defeats the purpose of driving at this stage.”
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Mr Giordano said that if he had known petrol prices would skyrocket, he would have given more thought to an electric vehicle.
“I probably would’ve held off a bit and maybe considered some of these Chinese Utes that are coming in which are fully electric,” he said.
Google Trends data shows that the Google searches for ‘electric vehicle’ are three times higher now than they were in February, before the US launched military action against Iran.
Data source: Google Trends
CommBank has also reported a 136 per cent increase in loans for electric vehicles since March 1 in comparison to the weekly average volume for February.
However, even before the war pushed up petrol prices, many Australians were already considering making the switch to an EV.
Helicopter pilot, Rich Armitage said his family were always going to buy an EV regardless of petrol prices.
“I don’t think the choice to buy an EV is a fickle one,” Mr Armitage said.
“We had already made this decision prior to the current rises.”
EV sales jumped between 2022 and 2025, according to data from the Australian Automobile Association, with hybrid EV sales increasing by 143 per cent, battery EV sales increasing by 209 per cent, and plug-in hybrid EV sales up 800 per cent.
Data Source: Australian Automobile Association
Other Australians are looking into alternative ways to ease the burden of high fuel prices.
University of Wollongong student, Nick Ryan said he opted to sell his larger car in favour of a smaller, more fuel-efficient diesel car.
“I was spending close to ninety dollars a week on fuel for only travelling short distances to work and university,” he said.
“I realised that I was skipping out on going to the gym or anywhere else that wasn’t home, as I was so cognisant of the cost.
“Something needed to change.”
Many Australians face similar choices ahead, as fuel uncertainty remains, and fuel rationing still being considered in some parts of the country.
