Image by Mikes-Photography from Pixabay
New figures released yesterday (Wednesday) by the Electric Vehicle Council show Australian electric car sales stagnant at a time when, says the organisation, much of the world is hitting the accelerator hard.
In 2020, there were 6,900 electric cars sold in Australia, a 2.7 percent increase from the 6,718 sold in 2019. The 2020 figures show electric cars accounting for just 0.7 percent of total car sales in the country.
By comparison, electric vehicles in the EU increased their market share from 3.8 percent in 2019 to 10.2 percent in 2020. In the UK, it was 3.1 percent in 2019, versus 10.7 percent in 2020.
In the US state of California, market share went from 7.6 percent to 8.1 percent. And in Norway, it rose from 56 percent in 2019 to a massive 75 percent in 2020.
The Chief Executive of the Electric Vehicle Council, Behyad Jafari, said the baffling Australian anomaly needed to end.
“Australian drivers are ready to join the exciting global electric car transition, but our politicians are yanking the handbrake,” he stated.
“There’s simply no sugarcoating it at this point – Australia has marked itself out as a uniquely hostile market to electric vehicles.
“We have no targets, no significant incentives, no fuel efficiency standards – and in Victoria we even have a new tax on non-emitting vehicles.”
According to Jafari, actions at both a state and federal level have left the local industry stalled while much of the developed world zooms over the horizon when it comes to the uptake of electric vehicles.
“The good news is that, given Australia’s abundant natural advantages, it would only take a handful of small changes from Government to get us right back on track,” he believed.
“If we follow the rest of the world and look to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles, we will be rewarded with clean city air, reduced carbon impact, enhanced fuel security and a renewed manufacturing sector.”
Jafari said the Victorian Government’s recent move to implement a special “tax on not polluting” was particularly baffling.
“Victoria is now doing what no other jurisdiction on earth does by discouraging people from buying electric vehicles by slugging them with a special tax,” he claimed.