Australian motorists: 2023 in review

Australians drove an estimated 254 billion kilometres on local roads from July 2022 to June 2023 – with the country now boasting approximately 427,000 kilometres of paved roads – according to new data from the Federal Government.

According to the Department of Infrastructure's Yearbook 2023, there were a total of 21.2 million vehicles registered in Australia during the 2022-2023 financial year, which runs from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023.

With a total of 19.1 million licence holders, that equates to 1.11 registered vehicles for every driver.

The greatest number of licence holders were in the 30-39 age bracket, with 3.62 million – compared with just 3.02 million for those aged between 20 and 29.

Over FY2022-23, SUVs comprised 55 per cent of all new vehicle sales, up from 28 per cent a decade earlier.

During the same period, there were 33,000 electric vehicle sales recorded locally – compared to just 17,000 in the previous financial year, resulting in a 94 per cent increase in sales in just 12 months.

More information on new-car sales over the 2023 calendar year will be announced as part of Drive's VFACTS coverage on 4 January 2024.

In 2022, a total of 1180 people lost their lives in road accidents – down 47 per cent compared to 2001 – however, while more lives were saved, more people were injured, with 40,000 hospitalised compared to 27,000 in 2001.

Emissions from vehicles during FY2022-23 rose to 106,000 gigagrams of CO2 (or equivalent), marking a record high for Australia.

Of the greenhouse gas emissions created from all domestic transport modes, road vehicles made up 84 per cent – in comparison to aviation, which was responsible for 9 per cent.

To the end of June 2023, it's estimated a total of 56 billion litres of petrol was sold in Australia, with the national average price sitting at 182.9 cents per litre.