Australia ups EV charging funds
Print Edition
The Australian government yesterday pledged A$178 million (US$132 million) to ramp up the rollout of hydrogen refueling and charging stations for electric vehicles, but did not offer EV rebates or set targets to phase out petrol cars.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the beefed-up Future Fuels Fund provides “an Australian way” to lower transport emissions, reiterating a slogan he introduced recently to describe the country’s middle ground on climate change policy.
“We will not be forcing Australians out of the car they want to drive or penalizing those who can least afford it through bans or taxes,” Morrison said in a statement. “Instead, the strategy will work to drive down the cost of low and zero-emission vehicles.”
The additional investment, which adds to an existing A$72 million commitment and will be spent by the end of June 2025, will also aid purchases of electric cars and buses for government and business fleets.
Industry groups and green activists, however, said rebates and tax breaks were necessary to encourage the purchase of cleaner cars in a continent where transport is the third largest source of carbon emissions.
“The federal government purports to support choice for Australian motorists, but in fact its strategy stifles choice by making it very challenging for Australia to attract a wide selection of battery electric vehicles to the market,” Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Kane Thornton said.
The federal funding is only slightly more than a separate commitment by New South Wales, the country’s most populous state, to spend A$171 million on EV chargers over the next four years. Victoria, the second most populous state, is planning to spend A$29 million on charging infrastructure in regional areas and replacing government cars by 2023.
The federal government said its plan should lower carbon emissions by more than 8 million tons by 2035, based on its own projection that battery-electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will make up 30 percent of annual new car and light truck sales by 2030.
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