Australia is set to introduce fuel efficiency standards as part of its new national electric vehicle (EV) strategy, in a bid to catch up with other developed economies in promoting EV adoption, as reported by Reuters on April 19. According to Energy Minister Chris Bowen, the new standards will stipulate the amount of carbon dioxide a car could produce while running. Details of the new EV strategy will be finalized in the coming months. Australia’s Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) has welcomed the move and stressed the need for strict standards, warning that Australia will “remain the world’s dumping ground for dated high-emission vehicles.”

Australia was the only developed country, aside from Russia, that did not have or was not setting fuel efficiency standards. The lag in environmental rules has made it difficult for EVs and low-emission cars to compete with dirtier and less efficient vehicles in Australia. In 2022, only 3.8% of cars sold in Australia were electric, while the proportion stood at 15% in the UK and 17% in Europe. Bowen acknowledged the need to boost the construction of EV charging facilities. As of December 2022, the country had only 4,900 public chargers at fewer than 2,400 sites. To address this, a policy requiring the installation of one fast charger every 150 kilometers on the highway will soon be implemented, according to Bowen, for the convenience of 83,000 EV drivers on Australian roads.

Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/australia-unveils-roadmap-boost-uptake-electric-vehicles-2023-04-18/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/16/australias-coming-national-electric-vehicle-strategy-will-be-quite-ambitious-experts-say