Nothing in budget for EVs, but progress continues

The latest Australian budget has nothing for electric vehicles, but progress is being made.

That’s the view of Electric Vehicle Council chief executive officer Behyad Jafari.

While he believes Australia is at risk of missing the boat on EVs, Jafari says the council is working with the federal government to address issues around EVs.

He says the conversation has moved on from explaining what EVs are and why they are important for Australia to working on doing something about it.

Asked if he’s happy with the progress being made, Jafari replies he’d be happier if there was a lot more progress.

But he says he came into his job expecting it would take some time.

“We do have broad recognition there are issues and we are actively meeting up to discuss these at this moment.”

Jaguar and BMW heads have recently urged Australia to get a move on with EV adoption.

The budget also didn’t resonate with the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) which says transport cost pressures will continue rising and there’s less returned to transport infrastructure and road safety.

“This budget fails to appropriately reinvest the taxes paid by Australian motorists in the programs so desperately needed to improve safety, affordability, and mobility.” AAA chief executive Michael Bradley says.