As the world moves towards a greener future, one of the most exciting developments is the rapid growth of electric vehicles (EVs) on Australian roads. In the past year alone, the number of EVs has almost doubled, from 44,000 to more than 83,000, and this figure is expected to top 100,000 in the coming months. But what does this mean for the Australian public? What are the implications of this growth? Read on to find out.
The Electric Vehicle Council’s yearly recap has revealed that 79% of the 83,000 EVs on the road are battery electric vehicles, while the remaining 21% are plug-in hybrids. In 2022, EVs accounted for 3.8% of all new vehicle sales in Australia, with the highest market share in the Australian Capital Territory, where almost 10% of all new cars bought in 2022 were electric.
Tesla Model 3 was the most bought EV model in 2022, with 10,877 sold, while 8,717 Tesla Model Ys were sold. Charging infrastructure has also improved, with public chargers increasing from 3,413 in 2021 to 4,943 in 2022, and fast chargers up from 231 to 365 in the same period.
The report has called for more multi-bay, ultrafast charging sites to be built in regional areas at a “reasonable spacing”, as well as in urban areas for drivers who can’t charge their cars at their homes. Electric Vehicle Council chief executive, Behyad Jafari, said that every electric vehicle in Australia is sold out, and that they’re “often sold out within hours of being made available to the Australian market”.
More than 440 submissions to the federal government’s National Electric Vehicle Strategy were published on Friday, revealing widespread support for changes that could lower the price of EVs. There were also calls for more local production of lithium batteries, electric buses and trucks, however respondents were divided over whether to ban the sale of petrol or diesel cars from being sold in Australia, and whether motorists should pay to keep them on roads.
The Clean Energy Council went a step further in its submission, setting a deadline of January 2024 for the introduction of “an ambitious and robust” standard. The measure, which has already been introduced in the European Union, the US and New Zealand, would set a limit for pollution across a car brand’s entire fleet, and introduce penalties if they failed to meet it.
As the number of electric vehicles in Australia continues to rise, it’s clear that the public’s enthusiasm for EVs is growing. But what does this mean for the future of electric vehicles in Australia? Will more charging infrastructure be built? Will petrol and diesel cars be banned? Read this blog post to find out more about the rapid growth of electric vehicles in Australia and what it could mean for the future.
Source: www.theguardian.com