Federal Government U-turn on EVs ‘leaves much to be desired’

In a U-turn so sharp you can probably smell burning rubber if you stand close to him, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has suddenly leapt on to the EV bandwagon. He might not be ready to drive one, or to provide any financial incentives for Australians to buy them, but he’s at least speaking as if it might be a good thing if we all decided to go out and pay full whack for them.

And if we do, his Government will be ready, as it’s investing in the necessary charging infrastructure. Or at least a bit of it. And it’s also hoping private enterprise will kick in the bill for half of it.

The Future Fuels and Vehicles Strategy is what the Government likes to call a “plan” and it includes $178m of new funding for the Future Fuels Fund – taking it from $71.9 million to $250m.

The document issued yesterday claims that this means half a billion dollars will be invested in EV and hydrogen refueling infrastructure, because the idea is that business will match the Government dollar for dollar.

READ MORE: Complete guide to rebates, discounts and incentives when buying an EV in Australia
READ MORE: NSW scores 9/10, Federal Government gets an electric car fail from the EV Council
READ MORE: Federal budget is a bust for EVs
READ MORE: Federal Government rules out subsisidies for EVs

Still, even $250m sounds like a lot, until you compare it to the $490m that just one State – NSW – has pledged towards incentivising people to actually buy EVs.

Or to the $600m the Federal Government pledged for a new gas fired generator in the Hunter Valley, a few months ago, part of a fossil fuel spending spree. Or the $250 billion (yes, billion) the Nationals sought for the mining industry as part of their deal to agree to net zero by 2050. Or the billions in diesel fuel discounts given to mining companies every year.

The plan also mentions that the government will “co-invest with industry” to install some 50,000 smart chargers in homes, but detail on this pledge seems somewhat scarce.

What we should be absolutely clear about is that Scott Morrison apparently didn’t mean any of the mean, non-green things he said about electric vehicles during the 2019 election campaign. Perhaps he didn’t say them at all, despite what you might remember…

Yesterday, while spruiking the new plan, Morrison denied that he was being a hypocrite by almost encouraging Australians to buy EVs, and denied that he ever attacked them, despite famously saying they would “end the weekend” if Bill Shorten was allowed to encourage people to buy them.

READ MORE: Getting a Tesla Model 3 took some negotiation for Bill Shorten

Morrison also suggested, in 2019, that an EV wouldn’t pull the skin off a custard, or, as he put it, would not be able to tow a trailer.

“It’s not going to tow your boat. It’s not going to get you out to your favourite camping spot with your family,” Morrison said.

That came as quite a surprise to the many people who already tow with an EV – and to the many utes and large SUVs that are currently being developed with heavy duty towing in mind.

READ MORE: Complete guide to towing with an EV
EXCLUSIVE FEATURE: EV ute overload: The electric pickup trucks coming soon

Yesterday he was a reformed man. “I don’t have a problem with electric vehicles, I have a problem with governments telling people what to do and what vehicles they should drive and where they should drive them, which is what Bill Shorten’s plan was,” Morrison said.

“I’m not going to put up the price of petrol [for] families and make them buy electric vehicles, and walk away from the things they have. That is not the Liberal way and the Nationals way.”

Nor are rebates or incentives the Coalition way. It has declared that any kind of subsidies to encourage people to buy EVs – as seen in far-off lands like Europe, and, er, New South Wales, where Morrison’s Federal seat is – “would not represent value for the taxpayer.”

So, in short, the government is happy for the States to do the heavy lifting and encourage people to buy EVs, and spend the money doing so, while his government will spend a lot less money on paying half the bill for some of the infrastructure we need.

It sounds not unlike the Federal approach to reducing CO2 emissions – NSW might be willing to set bold targets for 2030, Morrison, not so much.

The response from the Electric Vehicle Council’s Behyad Jafari was predictably scathing.

“It’s disappointing that, against the overwhelming advice of the industry and experts, the government continues to peddle its false line that doing nothing increases choice,” Jafari said. “For a strategy that has taken years to write, this leaves much to be desired.”

Federal Opposition leader Anthony Albanese, who said a Labor government would make EVs cheaper by removing import and fringe benefits taxes, was also critical:

“I think people will look at Scott Morrison today and this announcement and just shake their head and say, ‘What’s changed?’,” he said. “This is a guy who says he’s about new technology. He’s resisted it.”