Sydney, Australia \u2013<\/strong> Until recently, Rosco Jewell sold about one used electric vehicle every two months on his online marketplace, Amazing EV.<\/p>\n But in the weeks since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran, Jewell has been shifting a second-hand EV roughly every two weeks.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n \u201cIt is now getting very hard to find used EVs to buy in the $20,000 to $50,000 range. And we\u2019ve also seen prices increase by 10 to 15 percent \u2013 in some cases, 20 percent as well,\u201d the Sydney-based businessman told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n As conflict in the Middle East drives petrol and diesel prices worldwide, demand for EVs has been surging in numerous countries.<\/p>\n The United States and China, the world\u2019s two largest economies, have both seen a surge in EV sales after market slumps in 2025.<\/p>\n Chinese manufacturers reported an 82.6 percent rise in month-on-month sales in March, according to the China Automotive Dealers Association.<\/p>\n US EV sales last month topped 82,000 units, down by one quarter year over year, but up by more than 20 percent from February, according to Cox Automotive.<\/p>\n In Vietnam, local EV brand Vinfast reported a 127 percent rise in year-on-year sales in March.<\/p>\n Euan Graham, an analyst at the energy think tank Ember, said the war on Iran has accelerated a trend of growing EV adoption in emerging markets, including Southeast Asia, spurred by past energy shocks such as the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re now in a period in the 2020s where we\u2019ve seen two fossil fuel shocks, one after the other,\u201d Graham told Al Jazeera, referring to the energy crunch that followed Russia\u2019s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat usually happens, based on past examples\u2026 is countries look for alternative solutions, and in the 2020s, there are increasingly competitive alternative solutions, and EVs are one of them,\u201d Graham said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I would really expect this to be a kind of permanent shift in the pace of EV adoption in a number of countries,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Elsewhere in Asia, Japan\u2019s EV sales nearly tripled year-on-year last month, while South Korea saw domestic purchases surge by 172 percent.<\/p>\n In Europe, France recorded a three-fold increase in new registrations of Tesla cars, while Norway, Sweden and Denmark reported similar surges in new registrations for the EV brand.<\/p>\n In Australia, battery EVs accounted for 14.6 percent of total vehicle sales in March, nearly double the proportion recorded during the same month in 2025, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.<\/p>\n David Smitherman, the CEO of Sydney-based BYD distributor EVDirect, said he had seen a sharp uptick in inquiries that he expected to translate into sales in the coming months.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve just seen a lot of people come into the stores, obviously concerned about the price of fuel and their ability to control their own transport needs,\u201d Smitherman, whose company manages 90 of the Chinese carmaker\u2019s showrooms, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n In Melbourne, Kevin Alberica, operations and sourcing manager at EV dealership Evolve Motors, said one of his staff had recently sold seven Teslas in a single Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2019I\u2019ve never seen multiple people queueing for one car,\u201d Alberica told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had over 100 Teslas in stock. Now we have barely anything,\u201d he said. \u201cI am trying to replace everything we have, but it is difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n While Australia is a major exporter of coal and liquefied natural gas, the country imports about 80 percent of its petrol and diesel needs.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s government said last month that the country had about one month of fuel in reserves, with upcoming shipments secured through to May.<\/p>\n \u201cThe news is definitely scaring people,\u201d Alberica said. \u201cYou have a lot of business owners that have maybe diesel vans come in and buy a Tesla Model.\u201d<\/p>\n Charles Lester, data manager at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, said the trajectory of global demand for EVs would depend on petrol prices.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the price is sustained for a long period, and when it comes to consumers and when they\u2019re deciding to purchase a vehicle, their heads will turn towards at least thinking about purchasing an electric vehicle,\u201d Lester told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n For EV advocates, the rise in demand has spurred hopes that governments will take a more active role in supporting the transition away from the combustion engine.<\/p>\n In Australia\u2019s most populous state of New South Wales, the state government earlier this month unveiled a $71m initiative to fund the installation of EV chargers in regional areas.<\/p>\n Such moves have been tempered by a review of Australia\u2019s generous tax breaks for EVs at the federal level, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers widely expected to scale back the exemption from fringe benefits tax in May\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n Australia is \u201cuniquely well positioned\u201d to benefit from the electrification of its transportation because of \u201cthe success we\u2019ve had in not only large-scale renewable energy, but also in consumer renewable energy over a couple of decades\u201d, James Pickering, national president of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n For some Australian consumers, the switch to an EV has been a godsend after years of above-average inflation since the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n Jarred, a 27-year-old public servant in Melbourne, bought his first EV in February, just before the start of the war on Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cThe running costs have blown me away,\u201d Jarred, who asked to be identified by this first name, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n \u201cI can do a full charge at home for just $6.60 with my new home electricity rates,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cI really haven\u2019t had anything to complain about yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sydney, Australia \u2013 Until recently, Rosco Jewell sold about one used electric vehicle every two months on his online marketplace, Amazing EV. But in the weeks since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran, Jewell has been shifting a second-hand EV roughly every two weeks. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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