2021 Government Incentives for Electric Cars, EV’s and EV Charging Infrastructure in Australia

The following Blog Post is from our latest free YouTube video on State and Territory Government Electric Vehicle incentives in Australia as at June 2021. The video was posted on 16/06/2021 and available to watch here: Electric Car Australia – 2021 Government Incentives in Australia

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Today we’re looking at Government incentives for buyers of EV’s here in Australia. So let’s go back in time slightly;

ACT was first out of the blocks with a small but meaningful EV incentive as part of the ACT Governments sustainability scheme.

• The Australian Capital Territory scheme provides interest free loans for residents of up to $15,000 for sustainability initiatives, including the purchase of an electric car. The scheme was recently expanded to include second hand and EV conversions as well as the cost of installing EV chargers at home.
• Additional the ACT scheme provides free EV registration for 2 years for both new and second hand EV’s for individuals and business. This deal is available from 24 May 2021 to 30 June 2024. It doesn’t cover compulsory 3rd party insurance or Motorcycles.
• Within the next 12 months, 50 new EV chargers are also being rolled out in the Territory as part of general support for electric cars and sustainable transport.
• Let’s move to Victoria which last month made global headlines with the introduction of the worlds first EV tax along with a purchase subsidy for new EV’s.

Let’s move to Victoria which last month made global headlines with the introduction of the worlds first EV tax along with a purchase subsidy for new EV’s.

The Victorian Government initiatives and tax are part of a package of measures to support their target of having 50 percent of all new vehicles being zero emissions by 2030. Given all Australian State Governments are a bit slack on meeting their environmental and sustainability targets we will believe it when we see it but it’s a great start, much better than the Federal Government, but that’s a story for another day.

So let’s get into the detail of the Victorian EV initiatives:

• From May 2 2021 Victorian residents and business with premises in Victoria could apply for a rebate of up to $3,000 for zero emissions vehicles with a retail price below $69,000 AUD Tesla Model 3 SR $66,500 driveway with no extra’s, Nissan Leaf or MG ZS EV at $44,000 driveway easily fit into this bracket.
• First release is 4,000 vehicles from a total of 20,000 under the scheme which the govt has said may change after the first 4,000. According to the Drven.io website, 400 new registrations for electric vehicles where received under the new scheme in the first week of it’s release.
• In addition to above rebates; $19 million will be spent on new EV charging infrastructure and electric car charging stations.
• Also $10 million be spent over 2 years to purchase 400 electric vehicles for the Victorian Government fleet.

So finally let’s look at the recent $490 million New South Wales Government initiative which is designed to encourage EV adoption and meet a target of having 50 percent of all new car sales being EV’s by 2030.

The NSW EV scheme seems to be leading in the race between States to have the best electric car incentives by reducing some taxes, providing an EV purchase rebate and spending money on EV infrastructure within the State.

So let’s get into the detail:

• The headline is to reduce the upfront cost for the purchase of 25,000 eligible electric cars from 01 September 2021.
• Both battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicle qualify for a $3,000 rebate if their purchase price before rebate, including GST is below $69,000, so similar to the Victorian scheme.
• Stamp duty on new EV’s will also be waived providing a saving of up to $5,500
• The NSW Government has also committed to transition the entire Government vehicle fleet to all-electric models by 2030, an ambitious plan so again we hope they can make it as elections have a habit of changing priorities.
• And finally the EV good news continues with a $171 million spend commitment on new charging infrastructure across the state, which combined with the already good fast charging.
• Now for the fine print – NSW will also introduce a road user tax for electric cars of 2.5c a kilometer in today’s dollars (or 2c for plug-in hybrid EVs) would start from either 1 July 2027 or when EVs made up 30% of new car sales, whichever comes first. It would replace stamp duty and partially replace fuel excise, not sure how they can commit to this as fuel excise is a Federal tax, anyway as with Vic easier to get this passed when less than 1% of drivers are in electric.

So in closing it’s great to see some progress in supporting EV’s here in Australia, don’t let’s kid ourselves zero emission’s vehicles are NOT the silver bullet to reduce emission and slow climate change, although it’s a start we really need the Federal Government to get into gear in this space.

Being around 17% our Australia’s total green house gas emissions, and a bit part of particulate pollution, Vehicles are an important part, however encouraging new purchases of EV’s through any incentives will take years to flow through to reductions, even if we double or triple uptake each year. Particularly as we’re not even at 1% of registered vehicles yet.

Just putting it out there, maybe incentives should also target commercial vehicles doing large klms, Maybe a cash for clunkers to remove the most emissions intensive vehicles first is a better idea, or a more all-encompassing plan like New Zealand recently introduced. Or would could we get a better tax payer funded bang for our climate buck by introducing significantly better building efficiency standards? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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Mentioned Business’s/Organisations Links:

ACT Government EV Incentives: https://www.cmtedd.act.gov.au/open_government/inform/act_government_media_releases/barr/2021/second-hand-electric-vehicles-and-charging-infrastructure-added-to-government-sustainability-scheme

Information Age – Free Car Rego for EV’s in ACT: https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2021/free-car-rego-for-evs.html

ABC News – ACT 100% Renewable Energy Powered and EV Chargers: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-24/canberrans-get-free-registration-for-electric-vehicles-in-act/100160324

ABC News – Victorian EV incentives and Tax: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-01/victorian-plan-to-boost-zero-emission cars/100108626

Tesla – Model 3 Pricing: https://www.tesla.com/en_au

The Driven.io – 400 new Victorian EV registrations: https://thedriven.io/2021/05/13/victoria-gets-more-than-400-registrations-for-electric-vehicle-rebate-in-first-week/

Solar Quotes Blog – Victorian EV Tax, Robs Peter to pay Paul: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/vic-ev-tax-rebate/

NSW Government – 2021 Rebates for electric vehicle (EV) Purchases: https://www.nsw.gov.au/initiative/nsw-governments-electric-vehicle-strategy/ev-rebates

The Driven.io – NSW EV Incentives, but there is a Catch: https://thedriven.io/2021/06/20/nsw-unveils-490-million-support-package-for-electric-vehicles-but-theres-a-catch/