‘Future Fuels’ a fizzer: EVC

The Australian federal government’s long-awaited Future Fuels strategy ignores the most important and effective measures to improve electric vehicle uptake, the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) of Australia says.

The strategy will support and accelerate the rollout of some charging infrastructure, but does not include subsidies, tax incentives, or sales targets and it misses the opportunity to electrify Australian transport, the EVC adds.

Crucially, it also fails to deliver minimum fuel efficiency standards, which have been used in the US and Europe for decades. Fuel efficiency standards require car manufacturers to sell vehicles with a combined level of emissions below a defined benchmark, encouraging the sale of zero-emission vehicles, EVC chief executive Behyad Jafari says.

“There’s no sugar coating it, Future Fuels is a fizzer.

“If it contained fuel efficiency standards and rebates it would give Australians more choice. The best and most affordable EVs manufacturers are producing would make their way swiftly onto our market.”

Jafari says fuel efficiency standards are the bare minimum of what you would expect in any 21^st century plan.

“If Australia continues to be one of the only developed nations without fuel efficiency standards then we will continue to be a dumping ground for the world’s dirtiest vehicles. It’s sadly that simple,” he explains.

“Future Fuels is certainly an advance on the government’s rhetoric of the last election. The strategy has identified some of the correct benefits and pathways, but it does little to realise them.

“I welcome the progress we’ve seen, but it’s far too little too late. For a strategy that has apparently taken years to write, it leaves much to be desired.”

Electric vehicles present a monumental opportunity for Australia not only in reducing pollution, but creating an innovative industry in manufacturing, technology, and services, Jafari believes.

“The sector will continue to urge the government to take appropriate actions that get more such vehicles to Australia and on our roads,” he says.

“It’s a shame this government doesn’t have the same ambition for Australians that the electric vehicle industry does.”

Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and energy minister Angus Taylor revealed the federal government’s Future Fuels and Vehicle Strategy on November 9, part of a plan to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and pledging A$178 million in new funding for charging stations and other technology to encourage the low-emissions vehicle uptake.

About 1.7 million EVs are forecast for Australian roads by 2030, reducing emissions by more than eight metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2035.

Charging infrastructure would be installed in more than 50,000 households and public EV charging stations made accessible for up to 84% of the Australian population, Morrison and Taylor saying a A$250 million fund would support business fleets and new technologies for long-distance and heavy-duty vehicles, which would include hydrogen.

It’s expected to produce more than A$500 million of private and public co-investment and about 2600 new jobs.

Morrison says the switch will depend on technology rather than taxes.