Good News & Bad News, page-12474

Hertz, Splend win as NSW Governmentstokes electric vehicle boom

Car hire companies Hertz and Splendhave emerged as the biggest winners of the first stage of the NSW Government’s$633 million initiative to get more electric vehicles on the road.

TheNSW Government expects more than 1000 new electric vehicles to come intoservice in local councils and other private fleets in the coming months as partof a $105 million plan to encourage car hire and fleet operators to purchaseelectric vehicles over conventional engines.

Twenty-twocompanies including Hertz and Splend have qualified for incentives at the endof the first reverse auction for the program, with another round to open inmid-July

Treasurer and Minister for Energy Matt Kean said the investmenthad benefits for consumers hopeful of buying an electric car in the comingyears on the second hand market. He said that the bulk of fleet operators willoffload the cars into the second-hand market within three or four years.

“Electrifyingvehicle fleets will spur the used EV market, with most fleet vehicles beingsold into the second hand market within three to four years, helping moredrivers to make their next car an EV,” Mr Kean said.

The first step of the program isexpected to increase the number of electric vehicles on the road and in use infleets across the state by almost 10 per cent.

Underthe plan, the government pays the car hire company or fleet operator anincentive which covers part of the difference between the price of aconventional car and an electric vehicle. The scheme also hands out another$400 per vehicle to buy a charging pack.

Theaim of the program is to grow the number of electric vehicles on the road bytargeting large vehicle owners including private and public fleet operators,such as local councils, to switch to electric cars from convention internalcombustion engines when they add to their fleets.

Interestedorganisations registered their interest for the program at the start of theyear with a reverse auction conducted in early July. To bid in the reverseauction, fleet operators had to complete a total cost of ownership schedule andthen propose to government how much they needed to shift to a battery poweredelectric vehicle. The bids were also assessed on how much money they saved foreach tonne of CO2 that was abated.

ElectricVehicle Council chief executive Beyhad Jafari said the program was a good firststep to introducing electric vehicles to more consumers, either throughholidaymakers hiring cars or workers driving the electric vehicles at work. Healso said that the program would inject more electric vehicles into the secondhand market – and in a reliable timeframe – which would enable more consumersto get their hands on one.

“Whatwe know is that when consumers get a chance to experience an EV theirenthusiasm for them goes through the roof,” Mr Jafari said.

“Andfleets have a higher turnover of cars than the passenger market which isbeneficial because unlike a private consumer where you don’t know when they’llsell, we’ve got a high degree of confidence about when these cars are going tocome to the second hand market.”

Theannouncement comes as electric vehicle infrastructure providers eye off moreinvestment around the country with charging stations.

Lastweek, a suite of insurers including NRMA, RACV, RACQ and others bought theremaining 60 per cent of the country’s largest electric vehicle chargingnetwork, Chargefox. The buyers’ intention is to ramp up the number of chargingstation Chargefox has around the country, with a target of more than 5000 EVplugs across the country by the end of 2025.

Petrolstation chain Ampol is also making a sizeable investment in its charginginfrastructure around the country, with an aim to roll out more “fast chargers”at its stations. But the numbers of its charging stations are still low, withjust under ten sites. The chain is chasing a target of 120 charging stationsnationally by 2023.

Samantha Hutchinson