The ACT government has flagged lifting the 3 per cent sales tax on used electric vehicles to further extend the incentives offered to switch to zero emission vehicles and make them more affordable.
Scrapping the sales tax would save around $600 on the purchase of a $20,000 used electric vehicle (EV) in the ACT.
Speaking at the launch of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association's national conference and expo planned for Canberra in August, the ACT Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability Shane Rattenbury said it was also time for the federal government to do more "heavy lifting" on delivering more affordable electric vehicles.
"State governments have done a lot to put in place with various [EV] incentives to encourage people to take that up and I think we've seen Australians jump in on that," Minister Rattenbury said.
"The affordability of electric vehicles is now becoming the single biggest barrier."
The waiting time on delivery of new electric vehicles to customers around the country has now stretched well beyond nine months due to a raft of issues, including a shortage in the international supply of computer chips, shipping cost blow-outs and delays, COVID-induced factory shutdowns and go-slows, and manufacturers struggling to balance big demand against limited supply across global markets.
Used EVs imported from right-hand drive markets like Japan and the UK offer a solution to the shortage but the federal government controls the levers on importing these vehicles, ostensibly as a protective blanket for car manufacturers.
"In the ACT we've put those [incentive] mechanisms in place; that $15,000 interest free loan [via the sustainable household scheme] includes second-hand electric vehicles, as does the free rego for two years," Mr Rattenbury said.
"There is still stamp duty [on used EVs] but we're preparing to change that as well."
With the sticker price of the latest Audi e-Tron quattro EV sitting at $190,000, Mr Rattenbury said that used EVs offered the opportunity for lower income households to participate in the market.
"If you can pick up a second-hand Nissan Leaf [EV] for $18,000 to $20,000, that's a much more affordable option than many of the other options," he said.
Mr Rattenbury said he had made representations on ways of making EVs more affordable at the Energy Ministers' Council, together with calling for more federal fleet cars to make the switch. However, he received little encouragement.
The federal Department of Finance was presented with this option when it began turning over the Comcar fleet last year but instead chose to replace its Holden Caprices V8s with diesel-engined BMW 6-Series hatchbacks.
Per capita, the ACT is far and away the biggest market for electric vehicles in the country, with EVs commanding around a 5 per cent market share, compared with around 1.7 per cent nationally.
Tesla has opened a shopfront in Canberra and enjoys a handsome share of the ACT market.
In March, Tesla was ranked the third biggest-selling new vehicle brand in the ACT behind Toyota and Mazda, despite long wait times and huge constraints on new vehicle supply to customers.
Incentives and support for growing the electric vehicle market could become a "sleeper" issue in the upcoming federal government election.
In his 2019 election campaign, Prime Minister Scott Morrison famously campaigned against Labor policies encouraging 50 per cent of all new vehicles being electric by 2030, saying EVs would "ruin your weekend".
