The conversation regarding Australia’s slow transition to zero-emissions has continued this week, with a renewed push questioning why similar incentives provided for solar panels couldn’t be offered to electric vehicles.
“If we electrified the majority of our domestic economy, we’d be saving every household $3,000 to $5,000 a year in total – that’s billions of dollars per year for the nation,” Australian engineer and renewable energy expert Saul Griffith told ABC’s 7:30 program earlier this week.
“Rooftop solar in Australia is cheaper than the cheapest grid supply electricity in the world. But crazily we import oil instead of using that cheap resource to power our vehicles.”
The move matches research from AfMA’s EV in Business Fleets report, released in late 2020. Our members found high purchase cost was the greatest barrier to increasing EV numbers, ahead of setting up workplace infrastructure, and the limited models on offer.
“We need a suite of policies, like our rooftop solar, that promote electric vehicle adoption in every possible way, whether that’s tax incentives, whether that’s rebates, whether that’s subsidies, we need to build the market, we need to deploy the networks for charging. And we need to do it as quickly as possible,” Mr Griffith added.
“The correct Australian EV policy is when we’re making this the politics of Parramatta and Geelong. How do we help every Australian household succeed in saving money, helping their children have healthier air driving EVs?”
Meanwhile NSW Roads Minister Andrew Constance has thrown his support behind a drive towards EVs in a piece to The Guardian earlier this week – citing the need for further incentives not taxes paving the way forward to increase uptake.
“I want to see access to transit lanes and similar types of incentives here in NSW to encourage the use of electric vehicles,” he said.
“It is also imperative we deal with the price point associated with the purchase of an electric vehicle in both the new and the secondhand car market.”
AfMA’s EV in Business Fleets Report is available to download here
