Today, the NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean has announced what might be one of the most well considered EV policies in Australia.
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The smart plan includes:
A TARGET - to have 51% of new car sales by 2031 to be battery powered.
Targets are GOOD , because they allow the formulation of sensible policy to follow.
A "Road-user tax" for EV drivers at the same rate of 2.5c/km as in Victoria will be introduced. However, it will only come into effect by the earlier of 2027 or once EV sales represent 30% of new car sales.
While people can quibble about the details, I think it is both smart and fair. An immediate introduction of the road-user tax like in Victoria is stupid, since it slows the uptake of EVs. In addition, due the low number of EVs, the revenue generated is unlikely to cover the cost of administering the collection of the new tax. However, as the number of EVs increases, it makes sense to switch from a fuel levy to a road-usage taxation system.
Stamp duty will be removed from EVs that cost less than $78,000 by September this year, and a $3000 rebate given to the first 25,000 vehicles sold in NSW for under $68,000. Once the distance-based tax is implemented, stamp duty will be abolished on all electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.
Again, while probably not satisfying all parties, this is a reasonable compromise by offering the rebate only to lower priced EVs and limiting the size of the rebate scheme to avoid a cost blowout.
“With new cars staying on the road 15 years on average, the vast majority of new cars sold in NSW need to be EVs by 2035 to achieve net zero emissions by 2050,” he said.
Once again, the advantage of having a TARGET is that it guides policy formulation to achieve the targets.
More than $30 million will also be spent on upgrading the state government’s car fleet with electric vehicles, which are likely to be on-sold within five years and spurring the second hand market.
This will make EVs affordable to a cohort of people who can not afford the price of a new EV, but who do not want to lock in decades of carbon emission from the purchase of an ICE car.
NRMA Group chief executive Rohan Lund said the new strategy made the NSW government a “national and global leader” in the transition to electric vehicles.
Hat off to the conservative NSW government!
It is policies such as the one announced today that will accelerate the transition to sustainable transportation. Let's hope that the federal counterparts also get their act together, by declaring a sensible target and implementing good policy to reach that target.
