Australia lagging behind the world in electric car sales

Australian electric car sales are stagnating, with figures released by the Electric Vehicle Council revealing that 6900 electric cars were sold in Australia in 2020, marking a 2.7% increase from the 6718 sold in 2019. In 2020, electric cars accounted for 0.7% of total Australian car sales.

Comparatively, electric vehicles in the EU increased their market share from 3.8% in 2019 to 10.2% in 2020. In the UK, electric car sales increased from 3.1% in 2019 to 10.7% in 2020. In California, market share went from 7.6% to 8.1%, while in Norway it rose from 56% in 2019 to 75% in 2020.

Electric Vehicle Council Chief Executive Behyad Jafari said the Australian anomaly needed to end.

“Australian drivers are ready to join the exciting global electric car transition, but our politicians are yanking the handbrake. There's simply no sugar-coating 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. Our governments are apparently doing everything possible to ensure Australia is stalled with its hazards on while the rest of the world zooms into the horizon,” said Jafari.

Jafari noted that with Australia’s abundant natural advantages, it would only take a handful of small changes from government to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles. 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. When this policy idea gets pushed by the oil lobby around the world, they typically get laughed out of the room. Tim Pallas cut them a key to his office. The federal government’s inaction is bad, but even they’re not destructive enough to actively discourage electric vehicle uptake with a new tax,” said Jafari.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/rottadana