ACT Greens Dangle Subsidies And Free Rego For Electric Cars

The ACT Greens have announced a $50 million plan as part of a larger strategy supporting electric vehicle uptake in the Territory with the aim of getting “Canberra’s rEVolution” really into gear.

With the ACT’s electricity supply now based on 100% renewables, the bulk of the Territory’s emissions come from transport – around 63%. The Territory has a goal of attaining carbon neutrality by 2045, so electric and other zero emissions vehicles will play an important role in reaching this target.

According to the Electric Vehicle Council’s State Of Electric Vehicles August 2020, 134 EVs (excluding Tesla) were sold in the ACT in 2019. EVs represented just 83 of each 10,000 vehicles purchased. Even at this proportion, the ACT led Australia.

As in other parts of Australia, there are many Canberra drivers who would like to be behind the wheel of an electric car, but price remains a barrier. Currently, EVs are still pretty pricey – the cheapest being around the $50k mark.

Kickstarting Canberra’s rEVolution

Assuming the ACT Greens still hold the balance of power after the upcoming election on September 28, the party plans to tackle the current high cost of electric vehicles with:

• A $28.5 million fund to provide support of up to $10,000 for ACT residents to purchase a zero emissions car or motorbike. Half of this amount will be a direct subsidy, and half will be a no-interest loan – payback timeframe not mentioned.
• $10 million in grant funding for community and not-for-profit service organisations to buy suitable zero emissions passenger vehicles or commercial vehicles.
• A $10 million grants fund for local business to purchase zero emissions commercial vehicles.
• $3 million for businesses, body corporates and community organisations to apply for financial support to install charging infrastructure.

Free registration (government component only) will also be provided for zero emission vehicle owners from 2021 – 2024. Electric bicycles will get some love too, with discounts up to 50% off the retail price of an e-bike.

“A lack of government support has left Australia languishing when it comes to zero emission vehicles,” said ACT Greens leader Shane Rattenbury. ” Our policy will turn this around, making electric vehicles more available, affordable and convenient. In a decade, driving an EV will be the norm in Canberra, even for commercial businesses.”

Other major elements of the ACT Greens’ plan:

• Setting a target for 90% of new car sales to be zero-emissions vehicles by 2030.
• Transitioning to zero emissions public transport, garbage trucks, taxi and rideshare vehicles by 2035.
• Increasing electric vehicle charging stations via a reverse auction process and making charging stations a requirement for multi-unit and commercial buildings.
• Activities with the goal of attracting zero emission vehicle industries and other economic and educational opportunities to the ACT.
• Vehicle2Grid and Vehicle2Home research and pilot projects.
• Travel incentives for zero emissions vehicles, such as bus lane access.

More details on the “Canberra’s  rEVolution” package can be found here.

Are EV Subsidies Across Australia The Way To Go?

There’s nothing like “free money” to boost uptake of clean tech – solar is a shining example of the power of subsidies, whatever form they might take. But whether subsidies are a good option in the case of electric vehicles is a topic of some debate. Back in 2018, SQ’s Ronald delved into the issue and arrived at the conclusion:

“It makes no sense to subsidise electric cars when what we should do instead is make those who emit greenhouse gases and toxins into the air pay for the harm they cause.”

However, he also mentioned that in the absence of such a policy, some sort of subsidy on electric cars and potentially other low polluting vehicles could be a “less efficient, second best policy”.

Related: SQ’s Homeowner’s Guide To Solar And Electric Cars

Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/greens-act-ev-mb1672/