• NAB’s finance for electric vehicles grew 224% in the bank’s last financial year.
• States leading growth include South Australia (up 629%), Victoria (up 393%) and West Australia (up 281%).
• Several SIXT Victorian franchisees are using NAB’s business finance for green equipment to progressively electrify their commercial hire vehicles.

New data from Australia’s largest business bank shows businesses are driving the switch to electric vehicles (EVs) with the value of the bank’s EV loan book growing by a record 224%* year-on-year.

NAB Executive Business Metro and Specialised Julie Rynski said the data highlighted Australian businesses increasing efforts to improve their sustainability credentials and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“We’re seeing more business owners choose to make investments that help reduce their carbon footprint. A popular option being EVs, especially now that we’re seeing more models from more manufacturers become available here in Australia,” Ms Rynski said.

“Just last year we were providing funding for around 16 different EV models – with Tesla being the most popular – now it’s 25.”

States leading growth in business finance for EVs include*:

• South Australia (up 629%)
• Victoria (up 393%)
• West Australia (up 281%).

NAB research shows one in five SMEs strongly intend to make an investment to improve the sustainability of their business over the next two years.

“It’s our job to make cutting emissions easier for our customers,” Ms Rynski said.

“And as Australia’s largest business lender and leading equipment finance provider, we’re focussing on practical solutions – such as business finance for green equipment – to help businesses work towards and achieve their transition goals.

“Last December we launched our business finance product for green equipment, and since its introduction we’ve seen demand for EV finance soar.

“The product has clearly made financing electric vehicles more attractive as many business owners look to electrify their fleet to reduce their carbon footprint and business costs.”

Car hire franchise SIXT Victoria’s Chief Financial Officer Peter Sowinski said they are using NAB’s business finance for green equipment to progressively electrify their commercial hire vehicles.

“SIXT’s rental fleet of 500+ electric vehicles are one of the largest fleets of EVs for rent in Australia, we’re embracing the change to eco-friendly and sustainable driving,” Mr Sowinski said.

“With the help of NAB’s business finance for green equipment, 10% of our hire vehicles are now electric and we’re looking to grow this to 50% by 2027 to further expand our EV network.”

More Information:

• *NAB business finance for green equipment. New business lending data for EVs by amount financed between October 2021 – September 2022 vs October 2022 – September 2023
• NAB’s business insights research on why sustainability matters for business can be found here
• More information on business finance for green equipment can be found here
• Green equipment refers to the categories of vehicles and equipment that NAB has determined are eligible to be financed under its Equipment Finance Green Asset framework. The categories of vehicles and equipment and the criteria which apply to those categories have been developed by NAB and are subject to change.

Year-on-year state-based growth in business finance for EVs*: