NRMA demands government act to promote EVs

The NRMA has released a report titled 'The Future is Electric', pushing an agenda for government to ease the way for electric vehicles (EVs) appealing more to the buying public in Australia.

It's not the first time the government has been accused of sitting on its hands where EVs are concerned. And while the NRMA is the leading light in preparing this report, it is co-presented by the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC), which includes a number of car companies, each with a vested interest in the spread of electric vehicles.

Recommendations tabled in the report are:
1. Set a higher priority for the rollout of recharging infrastructure,
2. Remove impediments to the purchase of EVs,
3. Increase domestic electricity generation,
4. Establish minimum EV sales targets for fleets,
5. Form an intergovernmental working group to facilitate the transition to EVs,
6. Encourage R&D for battery technology development in Australia.

As well as presenting these recommendations, the report highlights global legislative initiatives and market influences that are having an impact on the adoption of EVs for private transport. The clear implication is that Australia stands to be left behind by the rest of the world if the government doesn't get on board with EVs.

Of the car companies leading the charge, so to speak, the highest-profile examples named in the report are GM (with 20 new EVs in development), Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo (hybrids for every model line from 2019), Ford, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
In addition, the report notes, seven countries are discussing or committed to banning internal-combustion engines for cars within decades to come, including the booming Chinese market. The other countries looking at this strategy are mainly European (The Netherlands, Norway, France, the UK and Germany), but India has drawn a line in the sand by restricting sales of petrol and diesel vehicles post-2030.

For the global economy, the good news is that EV batteries could be a $240 billion industry within 20 years, the report indicates.

For Australia, there are a couple of obvious advantages in the world moving en masse to EVs. A large-scale adoption of EVs would reduce CO2 emissions attributable to road transport by as much as 90 per cent. It would reduce our dependence on foreign sources for energy (or to put it another way, improve our 'fuel security'), and consumers would be better off. The running costs for an EV, according to the report, is 30 cents for the same power as $1.23 worth of petrol to produce energy equivalent.

As a final clinching argument for consumers, the report states that if Aussies had purchased EVs at the same rate as the Norwegians did, from 2010 we would have cumulatively saved $1.1 billion for fuel alone.

The report is available online for downloading.