South Australia’s environment minister has challenged the federal government to “fast-track” Australia’s transition to electric vehicles by matching the state’s subsidy scheme aimed at increasing uptake.
Speaking to Guardian Australia, David Speirs said that with a federal election looming and an oil price shock caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine inflating the cost of petrol there had “never been a better time” to transition to electric cars.
“Maybe the need hasn’t been there, hasn’t been so pressing in the past, but it’s certainly pressing now,” Speirs said.
“I would certainly like to see the federal government make a contribution towards EVs and partner with the state to fast-track that transition. I’m quite comfortable putting the challenge out there to my friends in the federal government.
“I’d love to work with the feds on a subsidy for electric vehicles which matches our own state-based work. At a time when fuel prices are surging, this could be an ideal time to trigger a step change in EV uptake.”
The federal energy minister, Angus Taylor, was contacted for comment.
South Australia offers a $3,000 subsidy on the sale of new electric vehicles.
Similar schemes exist in other states and territories. The Queensland Labor government announced on Wednesday that it would introduce a $3,000 subsidy on EVs that cost less than $58,000, starting on 1 July. It also announced $10m to build new charging stations.
The most generous support has been offered by the New South Wales Liberal government, where drivers can apply to have stamp duty reimbursed on purchases of new and used electric cars that cost up to $78,000, saving them up to $3,000. They can also claim $3,000 in rebates if they are buying one of the first 25,000 EVs cheaper than $68,750 sold in the state, meaning a buyer could claim back a maximum $5,540.
South Australians will vote at a state election on Saturday about whether to return the incumbent Liberal government.
Road transport emissions represent the largest share of carbon dioxide emissions in South Australia, where renewable energy penetration is high.
The Liberal government has said it would continue its existing programs but has not made any additional promises going into the election. The Labor opposition has said it would maintain the existing incentives but repeal a road user charge.
Under the current framework, the state government charges EV drivers a fee of 2.5 cents for every kilometre they drive until 2027 or when EV uptake reaches 30% of sales.
Scott Morrison was in Western Australia on Wednesday to announce a $1.3bn modern manufacturing initiative to develop mining projects for critical minerals used in the clean energy and EV industries. However, the government has not announced any specific measures to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles, and the future fuels and vehicle strategy released in November last year has been considered a wash by industry.
The opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, said if elected Labor would reduce the cost of EVs by cutting the fringe benefit tax.
“We want to reduce the taxes on electric vehicles and make them cheaper,” he said.
Behyad Jafari, from the Electric Vehicle Council, said EVs currently represented about 2% of the new car market in Australia, while in comparable countries they make up 20% of the market.
“[The South Australian government] is correct in pointing to the federal government, saying they should be doing more, but that doesn’t let SA off the hook,” Jafari said.
“What happens right around the world is state governments contributed about 25% of the support and federal governments provide 75%, so it is a partnership. The only thing we’d say to SA, and as we’d advised them for a time: what the NSW government has done in this space is much stronger.”
Jafari said the spike in global oil prices showed Australia should be moving faster.
“The federal government absolutely knew something like this was coming,” he said. “We also know this is going to happen again – over several years and throughout our lives.
“Why didn’t the government do something before? And now we’re here, what are we going to do now? You elect a government to recognise this is going to happen, plan for it and avoid it.”
