Australia is “miles behind” following leaked draft of Government EV strategy
Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Behyad Jafari has said Australia is “miles behind” in the transition to EVs following an ABC report of a leaked Government draft document.
The ABC said it had obtained a draft of the Federal Government’s electric car plans in its “Future Fuels Strategy” document, which was originally promised in early 2019.
It said the draft report showed “no direct financial help for motorists to switch to electric cars and no target for new electric car sales.”
The draft document, if accurate, means another black mark against our Government when it comes to incentivising Australians to embrace EV ownership. Last week EVCentral reported another leaked document describing proposed new taxes for EV owners and the Victorian Government considering fitting EVs with GPS trackers to slug owners with per-kilometre charges.
The ABC report said the draft document showed there would be “$72 million in funding already announced for co-investing in charging infrastructure; a two-year trial of an electric car fleet for COMCAR, which provides cars and drivers for politicians; updating the ‘Green Vehicle Guide’ website, and asking energy agencies to look at options for car-to-home and car-to-grid battery use.”
Hardly much to rejoice there.
The Federal Government was supposed to provide a strategy to increase electric vehicle uptake, but the continual sitting-on-hands and even proposed disincentivising of EV ownership means Australia once again lags behind much of the developed world’s electric vehicle strategies.
Little wonder battery electric cars made up only 0.6% of Australia’s new car sales last year – one of the lowest rates of EV ownership in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).
By contrast, in 2019 Norway’s pure EV sales were at 42.4%, rising to 56% when including plug-in hybrids.
In response, the Electric Vehicle Council’s Mr Jafari said: “Transitioning to electric vehicles is unarguably in our national interest, yet this strategy does nothing to accelerate the process.
“If Australians were supported toward electric vehicles we could significantly reduce respiratory illness in our cities, shake off our fuel insecurity, cut our carbon emissions, and even firm up our grid with a giant collective battery. This strategy does not help us realise this exciting future.
“In the US, drivers are offered a $10,000 tax rebate for buying an electric vehicle, and American consumers get access to much cheaper electric vehicle options because of their long standing vehicle emission standards.”
The ABC reported Energy Minister Angus Taylor said the Government’s full “Future Fuels Strategy” report would “be coming out in the coming weeks”.
