Motor industry leaders are calling on the government to be more ambitious in imposing C02 limitations on vehicles. This, according to industry representatives, can help solve the supply issues especially on electric vehicles.
Groups like the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) are saying latest figures indicate that there is room for the government’s potential mandatory emissions targets to be pushed further.
“I think we could have more ambition than our target moving forward, because technology has changed and there’s improvements there,” FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber said.
“There should be an ambitious but achievable target for the Australian context, and then we should review it on a regular basis to push the boundaries for technologies as they improve.”
“I think we should have two separate targets, one for essentially sedans and smaller SUVs where there is more capacity to make greater gains quickly, and then we should have another target for the larger vehicles … which make over one third of vehicles in Australian sales, because they are more difficult to transition to a low emissions environment,” Mr. Weber said.
Meanwhile, the Australian Automobile Association believes that the government had to find the right balance in imposing targets on car makers. According to Chief Executive Michael Bradley, an efficiency standard that’s too lenient would fail to encourage more supply of EVs, hybrids, and other fuel-efficient vehicles. On the other hand, if it’s too tough, then it would make it too costly for brands to meet.
On the other hand, Electric Vehicle Council Chief Executive Behyad Jafari says the efficiency standards can no longer be delayed.
“We’re seeing all the signs of progress from the government of moving ahead on this and I think that is commendable, but this is an issue that is urgent to us because we are facing the problems of not having these standards right now,” Mr Jafari said.
“It’s really important the government moves through this quite quickly and that it’s made very clear from the outset of the process that this is about Australia falling in line with international standards like those in the EU and the USA,” he continued.
“It would be no good to Australia having a standard that is outside of those bounds,” he added.
Recently, the government has released the first National Electric Vehicle Strategy. They have also announced that consultations have begun for Australia’s own fuel efficiency standards.
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