Australian motorists are performing a U-turn on electric cars, with the low-emission vehicles representing more than one in every 10 new vehicles sold after a slow start to the year.

The turnaround saw drivers purchase more than 12,000 new electric vehicles during September, according to figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries and Electric Vehicle Council on Friday.

But hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars still outsold their fully electric counterparts during the month, and the top two best-selling vehicles in Australia were utes.

The sales growth for electric vehicles comes despite proposals to introduce a national road user charge, and after the federal government's latest emissions target showed half of all light vehicles would need to be electric by 2035.

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