Jaguar is going to stop manufacturing petrol cars.
But it draws attention to something that governments around the world need to think about as we travel down the road of the electric vehicle revolution:The upfront purchase price of electric vehicles risks locking out the very people – those on low incomes – who would benefit the most from their cheap running costs. This is especially so in Australia,where the Federal Government’s failure on electric vehicle policies has left us at the back of the pack,with a poorly developed electric vehicle market.
Governments need to recognise this problem of electric vehicle equity and take steps to make electric vehicles more accessible to more people.
In the ACT,we’ve announced $15,000 interest-free loans for electric vehicle purchases,zero stamp duty,and two years of free registration for people newly registering an electric vehicle,whether it’s a new vehicle of second hand. The free rego offer started this month,on May 24.
Ensuring second-hand electric vehicles are also eligible is particularly important. Not only will these incentives help get more electric vehicles on the road to replace petrol cars,they also ensure it’s not just buyers of brand-new cars who benefit from the incentives.
With the ACT government fleet of vehicles on a speedy transition to being all-electric (it will be 50 per cent of the way there by the middle of this year),as well as other major corporate fleets going all-electric,second-hand electric vehicles will soon be a lot more widespread,making cheaper vehicles available to more people.
While it is still common for people to think of electric vehicles as fancy,expensive vehicles out of reach for most people,that reality is quickly changing. If you have a government with good incentives,your future electric vehicle could in fact be a second-hand,ex-government fleet vehicle,for which you can also receive a $15,000 interest-free loan,and two years of free rego. That is a very different price equation than having to fork out for a new Tesla.
Getting over the hurdle of the upfront cost is very important,because once you get over that,the decision is easy – the running costs of electric vehicles are significantly cheaper than petrol or diesel vehicles. A recent comparison of four ACT government vehicles – two electric vehicles,two petrol – showed the electric vehicles saved about $1800 a vehicle in running and maintenance costs over an 18-month period.