Amid Australia’s push for electrifying its vehicle fleet, ANCAP has reminded both consumers and the government that safety should remain a key factor while pursuing sustainability and environmental targets.
“It is clear more needs to be done to encourage the supply of alternative-powered vehicles to help reduce emissions and create a cleaner and sustainable Australia. With this, we want to remind consumers, fleet buyers, governments and the industry that the maintenance of high levels of safety must also remain a key factor,” said ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg.
According to ANCAP, they have “high levels of safety performance” when they evaluate electric, hybrid, and hydrogen-powered vehicles. Because of this, they said that they are prioritizing the testing and rating of these alternative-fuel vehicles.
“To help accelerate this demand and build confidence among consumers that they don’t need to sacrifice safety when it comes to choosing an alternative-powered vehicle, ANCAP is prioritising the testing and rating of these vehicles as part of our routine star rating program.”
Furthermore, ANCAP has urged Federal, State, and Territory governments to focus on providing subsidies and incentives to car models that have the highest levels of safety.
“It is critical that initiatives to promote uptake of alternative-powered vehicles do not undermine the safety of Australia’s vehicle fleet, and we’re calling on all levels of government to ensure subsidies and incentives are only provided to models that offer the highest levels of safety,” says Ms. Hoorweg.
“’We’re on the cusp of seeing a number of lower-cost EVs arrive in our market. Adopting a sensible approach reinforces to the industry – existing and new market entrants – that high levels of safety are expected with any and all new alternative-powered models that are on their radar for potential release into our market,” Ms Hoorweg added.
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