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Further implications
With regard to the adoption of EVs in Australia, the primary impediment appears to be a lack of government support. Criticisms levelled against EVs regarding their unacceptable carbon footprint, their cost and the inadequacies of supporting infrastructure such as charging depots are all impediments that only governments can address or that it is within the power of governments to address.
The primary issue regarding EVs carbon emissions is the fuel that is used to produce electricity within the region in which the vehicles are being used. In October 2019, an analysis by Md Arif Hasan, PhD candidate, Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington and Ralph Brougham Chapman, Associate Professor, Director Environmental Studies, Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington revealed that EVs offer huge advantages in countries where electricity generation is not largely dependent on fossil fuels. The researchers found 'In 2018, Australia's share of renewables in electricity generation was about 21 percent...In contrast, the share of renewables in New Zealand's electricity generation mix was about 84 percent...Using these data and estimates from a 2018 assessment, electric car upstream emissions (for a battery electric vehicle) in Australia can be estimated to be about 170g of CO2 per km while upstream emissions in New Zealand are estimated at about 25g of CO2 per km on average. This shows that using an electric car in New Zealand is likely to be about seven times better in terms of upstream carbon emissions than in Australia.'
Though studies have shown that over the life of the vehicle, EVs will have a smaller carbon footprint than ICEVs, large-scale reduction in emissions occurs where EVs are powered using electricity that does not rely on fossil fuels. The implications appear to be that EVs are most effective as part of a total set of strategies designed to reduce carbon emissions, including the clean production of electricity. Clean electricity production has been a bitterly contested political issue in Australia for decades and until that is achieved the use of EVs cannot bring about the desired result. However, the problem rests with government inaction in addressing Australia's power generation, not with EVs.
In December 2018, ABC science reporter Nick Kilvert, wrote, 'The beauty of an electric car is that once it's charged, there are no emissions being pumped out of the exhaust pipe and into the atmosphere. And if you can charge your car from a renewable source, like solar during the day, you're effectively driving an emissions-free car. Most Australians though, if they want to charge their car overnight, will be plugging into the grid... If we've got a chance of meeting our modest 2030 Paris target of 26-28 percent emissions reduction on 2005 levels, greening our grid could have the two-fold benefit of greening our transport.'
It has similarly been noted that the cost of a newly developed EV will not be comparable to that of established ICEV models without significant government intervention, either in the form of taxes on ICEVs or financial incentives, including reduced taxes, on EVs. These measures have not been employed in Australia in any significant way.
The Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association has compared Australia's relative lack of government action with the policies employed in Norway. It states, 'Norway is the world's biggest per capita market for EVs. Half of all new cars sold to Norwegians are fully electric or hybrid vehicles due to the generous Government incentives on offer, including exemption from a 25 percent sales tax. Without a similar program of incentives, we are unlikely to see Australian EV sales matching Norway's example anytime soon.'
It addition, Australia has been criticised for failing to establish a policy framework that seeks to promote the uptake of EVs. Part of the issue is that without such policies there is no encouragement for EV manufacture to begin in Australia, nor for overseas manufacturers to export a variety of vehicles in significant numbers to Australia.
Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Behyad Jafari has claimed that the lack of affordable options was due to investors' uncertainty. Jafari has stated, 'The rest of the world has developed policies to support the transition to electric vehicles. Australia hasn't. That lack of policy has created uncertainty for investment. We've had less deployment of particularly lower price electric vehicles. There hasn't been a comfort that this industry will be supported in Australia as it has been elsewhere.'
It has also been claimed that the lack of emissions standards has acted against the uptake of EVs. Anne Still, the general manager of Public Policy for the Royal Automobile Club, has stated that the lack of federally mandated CO2 emissions standards for new cars is hampering EV market penetration, as well as low emissions vehicles more broadly.
In March 2019, The Guardian reported, 'Cuts to carbon emissions from vehicle efficiency standards have been left out of government projections for meeting Australia's Paris climate commitments, indicating the policy has been shelved.
The office of the transport minister...said the government had not made a decision on "how or when" standards to cut carbon pollution from vehicles might be implemented.
After almost five years of submissions, a spokesman said the government "is not going to rush into a regulatory solution" with regards to vehicle emissions.'
The Guardian concluded, 'Australia lags behind the rest of the world in setting vehicle efficiency standards, with most countries in the OECD adopting policies to reduce emissions and improve the efficiency of cars.'
The difficulties impeding EV uptake in Australia appear to be part of a more general government failure to act to reduce greenhouse emissions.