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Several countries and car manufacturers have plans to go all
electric by the end of the decade. (AP: Jon Super)
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But the government's "future fuels strategy" has arrived with missing
pieces, in particular a target for electric vehicle sales that has
been long sought after by the industry.
At the COP26 international climate summit in Glasgow tomorrow, the United
Kingdom and several other nations will pledge to ban the sale of petrol cars
in developed countries by 2035 and in developing nations by 2040.
And there are more than 20 nations that have already announced plans to
phase out petrol cars even sooner.
Car manufacturers themselves are turning their fleets electric, with Volvo,
Ford in Europe and even Rolls Royce committed to selling all-electric vehicles
by 2030, and many other makers, including General Motors and Volkswagen,
soon after.
The race is on to get off the gas.
But Australia is just leaving the starting line.
Leading car markets are already selling mostly electric
Just 0.8 per cent of new light vehicles sold in Australia so far this year
have been electric, according to the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
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What stops Australian drivers buying electric cars 
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Price and range anxiety are the biggest concerns for Australian
drivers when considering buying an electric car. Read more
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In Norway, the world leader, three-quarters of new cars sold last year were electric.
And EV sales have continued to grow and outpace petrol car sales. Even through the pandemic, electric car sales have grown as petrol car sales have fallen.
Many of the nations planning to sign the pledge to ban petrol cars also have more developed charging infrastructure.
According to The Blueprint Institute, as of last year Australia had fewer than 100 public charging stations per million people, compared to more than 400 chargers per million people in Europe.
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Australia needs more car charging infrastructure to be able to
support a growing EV market. (AP: Ng Han Guan)
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Why won't Australia sign on?
Getting petrol vehicles off Australian car lots by 2035 would require a serious increase in Australia's ambitions.
The government has pointedly refused to set a policy that could appear to force Australians to adopt zero emissions cars, instead saying people should be able to buy what they want.
"We're not going to tell them what to buy, we're not going to tell them where to drive, we're not going to tell them how to live their lives," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.
"Australians will make their own choices."
Federal Labor has also not committed to introducing a sales target, though its now-dumped 2019 election policy had advocated for half of new cars to be electric by 2030.
But several states have set goals to go electric. The ACT, which leads the country in electric car sales based on population, has set a goal for all new cars to be zero-emission vehicles by 2030.
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More than one in 10 cars on European roads will be electric by
2030, but Australian projections are less ambitious.
(Supplied: Infrastructure Victoria)
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Industry groups say on its current policies, Australia is unlikely to see those sorts of figures.
The Electric Vehicle Council has advocated for discounts, tax exemptions, and emissions targets to drive a change in the car market.
The EV Council says without those, Australia's car market will continue to lag behind the rest of the world.
Links
- PM says he won't force Australians out of their cars, as government launches its electric vehicle strategy
- Australia becoming a 'dumping ground' for polluting cars as government delays signing on to international standards
- Labor promises cheaper electric cars and cash for solar powered batteries, if it wins next federal election
- (AU New Daily) Electric Car Groups Savage Coalition’s Future Fuels ‘Fizzer’
- Still net-zero modelling as Morrison begins EV road trip
- (AU The Guardian) Coalition Releases Electric Vehicle Strategy But Rules Out Subsidies
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