Electric Vehicle Council launched

A new organisation has received a grant of $390,000 from the federal government to promote electric vehicles in Australia, and is supported by a consortium of interested parties across the green spectrum.

But the Electric Vehicle Council does not number Australia's most popular brand, Toyota and the country's most popular prestige brand, Mercedes-Benz, among its members. This is despite Toyota's long-standing interest in vehicle electrification through its hybrid vehicle range, and both companies' respective hydrogen fuel-cell strategies – a type of technology just as heavily reliant on electric battery storage and drive systems as fuel cell stacks. Nor is Renault Australia a member, in spite of that company having placed the Kangoo EV with Australia Post for testing.

"We're looking into it... it's something that we're aware of..." a spokesman at Toyota told motoring.com.au last week. He also mentioned that Toyota is committed to joining a Hydrogen Vehicle Council, along with Hyundai and other interested parties.

The official line from Toyota followed shortly after:

"Whilst we don’t offer either a plug-in or full-electric offering in Australia, globally, Toyota has a diverse array of drivetrain solutions either in market, or under evaluation, (including Petrol-electric Hybrid, Plug-in Hybrid, EV, Fuel Cell and of course, internal combustion engines). We also have a selection of fully-electric urban mobility vehicles such as the i-Road concept involved in trials around the globe."

"On the broader topic of alternative fuels, we currently have three Mirai Fuel Cell vehicles and a portable refueller in Australia, for the purpose of evaluation and to raise awareness for this technology."

So either Toyota wasn't invited to join, or didn't think it was appropriate/necessary.

A Mercedes-Benz Australia spokesman could not cast any light on the matter and suggested that the three-pointed star's decision to join the new organisation may have been held up in 'red tape' after referral to Germany.

Described as an "industry-led organisation representing and coordinating the broader electric vehicle in Australia" the EVC numbers among its members a diverse selection of energy suppliers, automotive manufacturers and other business entities, including: ActewAGL, AGL Energy, Synergy, TransGrid, Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Tesla, Volkswagen, JET Charge, Lennock Fleet, ClimateWorks Australia, ITP Renewables and Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV).

On hand for the media event in Canberra announcing the council's launch were Minister for Energy and Environment, Josh Frydenberg, Minister for Urban Infrastructure, Paul Fletcher, AGL CEO Andy Vesy and Mitsubishi CEO Mutsuhito Oshikiri.

The grant for the EVC has been supplied by the government through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

"While the global industry grows exponentially each year, Australia continues to miss out. In the next twelve months, almost one million electric vehicles are projected to be sold, with more than $50bn invested in the industry over the last 10 years," said Electric Vehicle Council Chair, Behyad Jafari.

"Addressing the barriers preventing the mass uptake of electric vehicles in Australia requires a consistent and collaborative effort across a range of sectors.

"In addition to introducing vehicle emission standards, key policy measures include incentivising electric vehicle purchase in the short term as the technology works to meet price parity through upfront incentives and taxation measures, as well as establishing a recommended roadmap for national public charging infrastructure.

"We welcome others from across industry, consumer groups and government to join the Electric Vehicle Council as we work to build and provide certainty for investment in the Australian electric vehicle industry."

The grant from ARENA was welcomed by Scott Ferraro, the Head of Implementation at not-for-profit organisation, ClimateWorks Australia.

"Globally, the number of electric vehicles sold annually is growing rapidly. However in 2014, electric vehicle sales accounted for just 0.1 per cent of new cars sold in Australia," he said.

"This funding will enable us to work with the Electric Vehicle Council to provide more information about electric vehicles to Australian consumers and undertake research on the best policies to drive greater uptake of electric vehicles, particularly at the early stages in order to increase model choice and infrastructure.

"The council will also publish a state of electric vehicles report annually so we can monitor progress on the transition of the Australian fleet."

"When powered by renewable energy, electric vehicles are zero emission vehicles. This will help us meet our emission reduction targets faster and at lower cost, and can reduce impacts from air pollution in our cities," he said.

Energy supplier AGL has announced that it will purchase 36 units of the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV to reinforce its brand message of concern for the environment.

"We are committed to leading the development of distributed energy technologies and are on our way to operating the largest fleet of plug-in vehicles of any Australian business," says AGL CEO, Andy Vesey.

"We encourage Australian governments and companies to meet or better our EV uptake commitment. If other Australian fleet operators, including government, adopted a 10 per cent target it would result in more than 43,000 EV sales per year and reduce up to 85,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually.

"We also advocate for market and policy reform to help overcome key barriers to encourage people to buy EVs in Australia and enhance their ownership experience. And we recognise the commitment and coordination required across Australia's emerging EV market to ensure this is achieved.

"We look forward to working with the EV Council, the Federal government and industry partners including Mitsubishi Australia to enhance that end goal."

The energy supplier is also inviting its employees to purchase the plug-in Outlander (pictured) through a novated leasing scheme.

"By partnering with car manufacturers we can harness insights and offer practical solutions to consumers through new products and services they value," added Vesey.

AGL offers consumers a $1 daily unlimited home charging contract for electric vehicles, which also offsets carbon emissions through AGL's Future Forests program.