Prime Minister Scott Morrison has denied his support for electric vehicles is a massive backflip, as critics say the government's new $250 million strategy won't stop Australia lagging behind the rest of the world.
The government’s plan - released on Tuesday - has prompted concern from industry advocates, who say a lack of new subsidies or tax incentives means EVs will remain too expensive for most Australians.
A similar Labor policy, which carried a target of 50 per cent of all new cars being electric by 2030, was weaponised by Mr Morrison at the last election.
Mr Morrison in 2019 declared Labor's plan would “end the weekend”, claiming electric vehicles would not be able to tow boats, caravans or get people to their favourite “camping spot”.
When questioned about his past comments, Mr Morrison denied he had changed his view.
“I don't have a problem with electric vehicles, I have a problem with governments telling people what to do,” he told reporters.
“I trust Australians that when they are presented with good options at good prices - they’ll make good choices."
The government’s plan focuses on investment in charging stations in an effort to encourage more people to make the transition from petrol and diesel cars.
Labor’s policy had previously been underpinned by plans to implement an emissions efficiency standard for petrol and diesel cars.
The government's policy in contrast does not include any official target for electric vehicle sales, but projects that 30 per cent of all new cars sold by 2030 will be either electric or hybrid.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said the government’s plan lacked substance in failing to address the cost concerns around EVs.
“We need to make sure that we don’t continue to fall behind,” he told the ABC.
“What you can do is make those choices easier by making it cheaper for people to drive electric vehicles.”
The transition of diesel or petrol vehicles to low-emissions vehicles is considered crucial for Australia's energy transition, with the transport sector accounting for almost 20 per cent of emissions.
Labor has promised to remove government charges on non-luxury EVS, including import taxes and fringe benefits tax, to lower the price for Australians who want to drive electric cars.
How does Australia compare globally?
Australia’s electric vehicles sales have lagged behind the world, particularly many European countries.
New car sales data released in August showed that 8,688 EVs were sold in the first half of 2021.
This made up less than 2 per cent of the total sold in the light vehicle market, according to the Electric Vehicle Council.
In Norway - the world’s leading electric vehicle adopter - around 74.8 per cent of all light vehicles sold in 2020 were electric, while Australia also trails the UK (10.7 per cent), China (6.2 per cent) and the United States (2.3 per cent).
Electric Vehicles Council chief executive Behyad Jafari said the Australian government’s response had addressed only “5 per cent of what’s needed” in increasing the uptake of EVs.
He said the policy had fallen short by ruling out fuel efficiency standards requiring cars to become cleaner over time or adopting rebates to make electric vehicles cheaper to buy.
“Australia is a decade behind the rest of the world. They are the policies that have worked everywhere else,” he told SBS News.
Australia currently has about 3,000 public chargers installed across the country, according to the Electric Vehicle Council.
By comparison, California has over 73,000 public and shared chargers.
Tony Wood of the Grattan Institute think tank said that, while investment in charging stations and infrastructure was needed, it wouldn’t do enough to “encourage and accelerate the uptake of vehicles”.
Mr Wood said without a model to require fuel efficiency standards like those adopted by the European Union and United States, a slower uptake of EVs could undermine Australia’s access to the global market.
“If we are not in that game - where we could lose out is we won’t be getting the range of cars that people can choose to make it so we don’t ruin the weekend,” he said.
Norway and South Korea have announced a ban on new petrol and diesel car sales from 2025.
The UK, Germany and Israel have committed to reaching the target by 2030 while China, Canada and Singapore will phase out new fossil fuel vehicles in 2035-2040.
Back in Australia, Victoria has also set a sales target of 50 per cent of new vehicles to be zero emissions by 2030 while NSW announced an EV strategy to increase sales to 53 per cent by 2030-31.
Both states have also introduced financial rebates for new EV purchases while some other jurisdictions have offered to waive stamp duty and registration fees.
