Clean energy experts call for ICE cars to be banned

Some of Australia’s leading clean energy experts have called on the federal government to adopt stringent new measures to boost the uptake of electric vehicles in Australia, including the banning of all new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle imports.

The calls come ahead of the Energy Next conference on July 18-19 in Sydney, where EVs will form a major part of the agenda.

The federal government is also currently finalising its mandatory Fuel Efficiency Standards that are due to be released late this year.

These will set average CO2 emissions limits across all new light vehicles sold in Australia and, for the first time, impose penalties on car-makers who fail to meet the targets.

Heralding issues they’ll be raising at the Energy Next EV forum, clean energy advocates have urged that the standards are strong enough to force all new ICE vehicles to be banned “as early as possible” – and for other tough policies and regulations to be adopted.

Among them, Brett Milne, the executive director of renewable energy tech firm Kirit, said affordability of zero-emissions vehicles was a key barrier to their uptake.

“To speed up this transition Australia needs to ban the import of ICE vehicles as early as possible through emissions standards or other means and put in place incentives that equalise the cost of an EV with a similar standard ICE car,” he said.

“Consumers should be able to shift from their current standard of ICE vehicle to a similar standard of EV with no price or quality penalty.”

Price parity between ICE cars and EVs is a hot topic of discussion across the sector, with many calling for more government subsidies and others putting the onus back on car-makers.

“Reducing EV costs is also dependent on manufacturers bringing these cheaper models into the Australian market,” said Amelia McVeigh of Fifth Quadrant/ACA Research.

“The federal government’s EV strategy focuses on this, looking to create an environment where manufacturers treat Australia as a priority.

“Implementing the Fuel Efficiency Standard and sending a clear signal to the industry is therefore the most critical step right now to speed up adoption in the years ahead.”

The other big hurdle nobbling Australia’s EV uptake is our insufficient national charging infrastructure.

On this front, Cossill and Webley Energy Transformation Services principal Jey Shivakumar called on the government to increase incentives for private operators and petrol stations “to convert to install more EV charging infrastructure”.

Energy Lab CEO Megan Fisher also said EV infrastructure needed a more co-ordinated approach, while i-Charge Solutions managing director Rosemary Tan added that this would hinge on the local adoption of international charging and charging management standards.

“That’s how we build public trust – a puzzle of promoting EV adoption that cannot be missed – not just a number target,” she said.

“What will make people adopt EVs is that it is easy. What makes it easy is: one, financial incentives; two, good functionality from a consumer perspective; and three, good management from the loading perspective.”

SMA Australia business development manager Andros Cadavid also stressed that current national energy grid infrastructure (poles and wires) would need to be upgraded to cope with the increased loads as EVs become more prevalent.

Electric vehicle sales in Australia were up 214 per cent to the end of April 2023 compared to the same period last year, with 23,926 new EVs delivered.

That still only accounted for 6.8 per cent of all new-vehicle sales, but the upward trends are clear.

ACA Research predicts EVs will account for 16 per cent of all new vehicle sales by 2027, and 25 per cent by the end of the decade.

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