Australia’s EV rollout hampered by ‘outdated’ regulations

Red tape and “outdated” regulations are holding back Australia’s transition to electric vehicles and driving up prices, an Electric Vehicle Council report has found.

The State of Electric Vehicles report this week says Australia’s EV transition is lagging behind countries including China and Thailand.

It found restrictive mass and width restrictions, inadequate road vehicle standards, and unfair taxes were making electric vehicles less available and less affordable.

The report found many car models were not sold in Australia at all, with only three models making up 68 per cent of the entire market.

Electric Vehicle Council senior policy manager Natalie Thompson said Australia’s lack of a Vehicle Efficiency Standard made it a less attractive market for EV sellers.

The efficiency standard would incentivise lower CO2 emissions cars, a policy which Ms Thompson said was long overdue.

“We haven’t had any strategic leadership on this for some time, but we’re optimistic the current federal government has set some wheels in motion,” Ms Thompson said.

“But we want to see that progress happen more quickly because we know this technology is being deployed globally.”

Transport Minister Catherine King said the government was working on a range of reforms, including a draft fuel efficiency standard by the end of the year.

“The government is committed to implementing a Fuel Efficiency Standard for Australia, which will encourage more fuel-efficient internal combustion engine vehicles as well as low and zero emissions vehicles such as electric vehicles,” Ms King said.

“This will save Australians money at the fuel bowser, give greater choice of cleaner cars in the Australian market for consumers, and reduce CO2 emissions from light vehicles.”

Ms King said the government was also reviewing a package of amendments to the current width and mass requirements for electric trucks and buses.

Brisbane City Council transport chairman Ryan Murphy said the council was working towards a completely electric bus fleet.

However, Cr Murphy said Queensland’s infrastructure was not ready for a transition to electric buses.

“Council and industry have raised significant concerns about the ambitious state targets for electrification of Queensland’s bus fleet, given the state government has so far failed to undertake any large-scale depot electrification projects,” Cr Murphy said.

“We also have concerns about the ability for electricity generation and distribution networks to keep up with the demand.

“We know that to electrify Brisbane’s bus fleet overnight we would need to find the additional baseload power to light up a city the size of Gladstone.”