"The ACT [has] some of the most expensive cost of living, the cost of food is already going up and I couldn't really afford to be concerned about petrol on top of the already rising prices," he said.

"It's a huge relief for me."

Mr Papadopoulo said he was in a position to purchase a car and that he was able to use the territory government's zero-interest loan scheme for energy-efficient upgrades.

He took out the maximum loan of $15,000 and bought a Nissan Leaf from Canberra's Ion DNA showroom, spending $28,000.

The Grattan Institute's Energy and Climate Deputy Program Director Alison Reeve said though petrol prices may nudge more people towards electric vehicles, the price barrier to ownership was still intact.

"What I suspect we will see is that you'll get a surge in uptake of electric vehicles, particularly in Europe and the US, and that will help to push the price down to the rest of the world, she said.

Demand will feed investment in manufacturing and drive price tags down, Ms Reeve said.

In Canberra, the figures show demand is on an upward trajectory.

Data released in January by the Electric Vehicle Council found Canberra drivers purchased 825 electric vehicles last year, making up 5.01 per cent of all cars purchased in the ACT in 2021, the highest sales per capita in the nation.

"We're seeing a real uptake and supply seems to be the problem, not demand anymore," Ion DNA owner Rob Ogilvie said.

"If I had another 20, at a low price point, I could sell them today. I just don't have them."

Speaking on how fuel prices factor into decision-making for consumers, he said people who had first inquired six to 12 months prior were now returning to make purchases.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr on Tuesday noted electric vehicle drivers in Canberra were already buffered from the rising costs of fuel.

He took aim at the federal government, saying it could do more to invest in electric vehicles, so that "we are less reliant on foreign oil into the future [and] will be better insulated from these sorts of shocks".

"Manufacturers prefer to send electric vehicles to other markets where they know that they're more likely to sell," Ms Reeve said, adding that Australian government incentives for electric vehicle uptake were lagging behind the rest of the world.

A vehicle emissions standard, requiring every manufacturer to gradually reduce tailpipe emissions across their fleet would be the best strategy to drive uptake, she said.

"What that standard does is that it pushes manufacturers to make the vehicles [petrol vehicles] more efficient ... and it also means that they're more likely to supply electric vehicles into a market because those vehicles have zero tailpipe emissions.

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"If you think about the fact that petrol prices are incredibly high at the moment, that pain would not have been as pronounced if we had had a vehicle emission standards in place, because all of the petrol cars that we have in our fleet now would be cheaper to run."

Mr Ogilvie added that getting more used electric vehicles onto the market, and removing stamp duty on them would boost ownership.

"It made no sense for me to spend a lot of money on a vehicle that I would also then have to spend an increasing amount of money every week to fuel," Mr Papadopoulo said of his decision.

He said he didn't think the federal government had spent enough money on electric vehicle infrastructure and instead dedcided "to invest in a vehicle for myself".

"It also has zero emissions; that's far better for the environment."

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