Scott Morrison, who in 2019 suggested EVs would ‘end the weekend’, says he now expects them to make up only 30% of new sales by 2030
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The Coalition’s $178m policy will extend funding for hydrogen
and EV charging stations, but falls short of mandating targets
for uptake or providing subsidies.
Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters
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The government’s “future fuels and vehicles strategy” instead includes $178m of new funding, mostly for new EV and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure and to help businesses set up charging stations for fleets.
Scott Morrison – who in 2019 said Labor’s EV policy would “end the weekend” – emphasised the government would not “be forcing Australians out of the car they want to drive or penalising those who can least afford it through bans or taxes”.
“Australians love their family sedan, farmers rely on their trusted ute and our economy counts on trucks and trains to deliver goods from coast to coast,” he said in a statement released to some media on Monday and obtained independently by Guardian Australia.
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The expansion of rooftop solar – which, according to the Clean Energy Council, has now led to 3m systems being installed across the country – was encouraged for more than a decade through federal and state incentives and subsidies.
The government expects its approach to EVs will have only a limited impact as a climate policy, projecting it will cut greenhouse gas emissions by just 8m tonnes – less than 2% of the national annual total – by 2035.
Transport emissions are nearly 20% of the national total and were increasing rapidly before Covid-19 lockdowns. They are projected to rebound in the years ahead.
The energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, said the government would work with the states to ensure the electricity grid was ready for an increase in EVs.
The government’s strategy of helping install charging infrastructure – including “co-investing with industry to roll-out an estimated 50,000 new smart chargers in Australian households” – was about “helping motorists embrace the increasing range of technologies available to keep them moving in an informed and fair way”, he said.
He claimed credit for the number of low emissions vehicle models available in Australia increasing by 20% over the past eight months, but did not explain how the government’s policy had contributed to this.
Car manufacturers across the globe have released a wave of new EV models as governments have announced emissions limits for passenger cars and future bans on fossil fuel cars. Industry representatives say Australians have fewer options than comparable countries due to a lack of policy support.
Taylor said voluntary adoption of EVs was “the right pathway for reducing transport emissions over the long term”.
“Stringent standards, bans or regressive taxes will limit choice and increase the upfront costs of cars for Australians,” he said.
The chief executive of the Electric Vehicle Council, Behyad Jafari, said the government’s strategy addressed only “roughly 5% of the electric vehicle issue”. He said it ruled out the two “most important and efficient measures” to encourage EV uptake – fuel efficiency standards that would require cars to become cleaner over time, and rebates.
He said EVs were a “monumental opportunity” for Australia that could cut emissions while “creating an innovative industry in manufacturing, technology and services”.
“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.”
A study has suggested future uptake of EVs will be driven by state policies.
ClimateWorks Australia, a thinktank connected to Monash University, found promised state and territory action had set a de facto national target for 2030 of at least 30% of new cars being electric.
The two biggest states, New South Wales and Victoria, are aiming for EVs to make up 50% of new sales by the end of the decade.
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EVs were just 0.75% of new car sales in Australia last year, compared with 10.2% in Europe and 15% in the UK. They are nearly 80% of new sales in Norway.
Norway and South Korea have announced a ban on new petrol and diesel car sales from 2025, followed by a list of countries – including the UK, Germany, India and Israel – in 2030. Japan and California will phase out new fossil fuel vehicle sales in 2035, and China, Canada, Singapore and Sri Lanka in 2040.
The Morrison government announced plans for a national EV strategy before the last federal election, but changed direction after accusing Labor of wanting to “end the weekend” by setting a target of 50% of new sales being EVs by 2030.
It has rejected introducing fuel efficiency standards, which would involve setting a target to lower the average emissions from the national vehicle fleet, despite a departmental analysis in December 2016 finding the benefits in savings on fuel and reduced emissions would outweigh the costs under all scenarios examined.
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
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