The Australian government said Friday that it intends to introduce new regulations targeting carbon emissions from vehicles to increase the adoption of electric cars as it tries to catch up with other developed economies.
Only 2% of cars sold in Australia are electric compared to 15% in Britain and 17% in Europe, and the country risks becoming a landfill for vehicles that cannot be sold elsewhere, the climate change minister said. and energy Chris Bowen.
Aside from Russia, Australia is the only OECD country that does not have or is developing fuel efficiency standards, which encourages manufacturers to supply more electric, zero-emission vehicles, he said. “For me, ultimately, it’s about choice. And the policy setting is denying Australians a real choice of good, affordable and zero-emission cars,” Bowen said at an electric vehicle summit in Canberra.
The government will issue a discussion paper for consultation in September, focusing on increasing the adoption of electric vehicles, improving affordability, and finding options for fuel efficiency standards. Currently, only eight EV models priced under A $ 60,000 ($ 41,450) are available to choose from in Australia, compared with 26 in Britain, Bowen said.
“Australia is in danger of becoming a landfill for old technologies that cannot be sold in other markets,” he said. DIRTY VEHICLES The move on emissions follows the May electoral victory of the center-left Labor government led by Anthony Albanese, who campaigned on the promise of climate policy reforms that would bring the country into line with other developed economies.
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in 2019 that policies to reduce vehicle emissions would be “finished by the weekend,” while other critics say electric vehicles would do away with the popular commercial vehicles, or UTEs, used by manufacturers and farmers.
“The time is up for cheap politics, to say ‘the weekend will be over’ or the Utes will be removed,” Bowen told reporters at a press conference following his speech.
“If you have an electric vehicle, you will never need to lift the nozzle at a gas station again,” he said. Albanian has promised tax cuts for electric vehicles and raised Australia’s 2030 target of cutting carbon emissions to a 43% reduction from 2005 levels. Tesla chairman Robyn Denholm, speaking at a summit roundtable, said Australia needs to catch up with the rest of the world as quickly as possible.
“It’s not just about electric vehicles. It’s also about reducing emissions from gasoline vehicles. What we can’t accept are the dirtiest cars in the world in Australia.” This is what we have today and it is increasing, ”he said.
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