Australian lobby group for electric cars established

The Electric Vehicle Council has been launched in Canberra this week to drive electric car uptake in Australia.

A $390,000 grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency will bolster the council, the grant announced by federal environment minister Josh Frydenberg as the government aims to increase electric vehicle uptake, reducing emissions, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

“Here in Australia, we could be going better than we are,” Frydenberg says.

In 2014, electric vehicle (EV) sales accounted for 0.1% of new cars sold in Australia with fewer than 5000 electric cars on the road today.

“Some 10% of Australia’s emissions come from light vehicles,” Frydenberg says.

More policy and market framework is needed to build the industry, EVC member AGL Energy’s chief executive Andrew Vesey says.

AGL last year offered customers the chance to recharge electric vehicles at home for a $1 per day, and announced this week a new program offering AGL employees a tailored leasing arrangement including the Mitsubishi Outland Plug-in Electric Vehicles, the AGL Electric Car Plan and home charging.
AGL aims to have EVs comprising 10% of its commercial fleet by mid-2018.

The EVC’s other members include car manufacturers, energy providers and associated groups like ActewAGL, Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Tesla, Volkswagen Group, NSW’s TransGrid, ClimateWorks Australia and the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria.

ClimateWorks reported last year that electric vehicles could help transport sector emissions drop by up to 47%.
EVC chairman and ClimateWorks implementation head Scott Ferraro says EVs recharged using renewable energy and created zero emissions.

“International experience has shown that government policy is a key driver to enable uptake,” he says.
The EVC aims to work with the Government on policies, including creating sales incentives for consumers.
Urban infrastructure minister Paul Fletcher says the transport sector is undergoing an extraordinary transition and disruption.

“One of the things for that has to happen for that transformation to take effect is that purchasers, consumers and users need to make decisions to buy vehicles embodying new technology,” he says.
Mitsubishi chief executive Mutsuhito Oshikiri says EVs are important to protect the environment.

“We expect demand for electric vehicles to increase over the coming years.”
EVC chairman Behyad Jafari says Australia is missing out while the global EV industry grows.
Almost a million EVs are expected to be sold worldwide within the next year.