We import $44 billion of oil & oil products and while passenger EVs may reduce some of that import bill, the vast majority of it will remain due to machinery, HD trucks & Avgas.
IMO we need to do a lot more oil exploration so that we can reduce this enormous oil import bill to virtually zero. The phasing out of our local oil refineries is a retrograde step, IMO; in fact we should be refurbing them and building a few more.
We have relied on Chinese investment to balance trade in the past but ScoMo has kicked that option in the bollocks over the past 2 years!
Our auto import bill is another $44 billion/year and transitioning to EVs will lift that by at least 50% ; that is unless the Chinese come to the rescue with poverty packs!
The Nissan Leaf is twice the price of its ICE equivalent:
