Tasmania has achieved a promising 7/10 rating in the Electric Vehicle Council policy scorecard, after strong initiatives, particularly in the area of public charging infrastructure.
The ratings are contained in EVC's State of Electric Vehicles 2021 report, launched today. The report also finds 8688 electric vehicles were sold in the first half 2021, already eclipsing the 6,900 electric vehicles sold over the whole of 2020.
NSW narrowly beats the ACT (8/10) and the NT and Tas (7/10). Qld, SA, Vic, and WA scored 6/10. The federal government gets the lowest rating with 3/10, after failing to make meaningful inroads in line with other comparable jurisdictions around the world.
Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Behyad Jafari said with the global shift now undeniable, the question for Australia was one of speed.
"When you consider the rhetoric that was being pushed last federal election, the EV discussion in this country has come a long way quite quickly," Mr Jafari said.
"Tasmania recently announced an expanded policy approach to fund purchase incentives, including a two-year stamp duty exemption for all electric vehicles as well as free registration for the next two years for car rental companies and coach operators.
"It has also committed an additional $600,000 in funding for more public charging infrastructure and has set a 100 per cent electric government fleet target by 2030. Tasmania is establishing a good foundation for greater electric vehicle adoption, but there remains scope to offer greater financial incentives to bring the state in line with NSW and the ACT.
"The movement across most states and territories is now generally positive and that's providing greater confidence to private sector investors, which will pave the way for more places to charge and better services to support e-mobility. The chief headwind at the moment is, unfortunately, a continued lack of leadership on electric vehicles at the federal level. After promising a national strategy two years ago, the Federal Government has failed to deliver.
"We need to see more electric vehicle models in Australia, particularly at lower price points. That's happening slowly, but if we want to accelerate the process and attract the globally limited electric vehicle supply, we need policies enacted at the national level, like fuel efficiency standards.
"Australia has more to gain than most countries on electric vehicles. If transition well we'll be able to meet our net zero goals, break our dependency of foreign oil, and improve our air quality."
