Labor faces a roadblock when it comes to delivering an election promise on electric vehicles with the Greens and independent senator David Pocock raising concerns about hybrid cars being included in the government’s legislation.
The Albanese government made good on its campaign promise to make EVs cheaper with the introduction of legislation which would cut the fringe benefits tax on low and zero emissions vehicles. But it includes plug-in hybrids, which rely on petrol combustion engines as well as electric power and are already commercially competitive.
The Greens and Pocock are concerned the inclusion of plug-in hybrids would bake in another taxpayer-funded fossil fuel subsidy while slowing the take-up of actual zero emission vehicles.
The opposition has already announced it will be voting against the legislation, on the grounds it believes the subsidies will cost taxpayers too much. That leaves Labor reliant on the Greens and independent senators such as Pocock if it wants to pass the bill.
Bandt said an easy solution was for the government to remove plug-in hybrids from the legislation, a move a parliamentary budget office analysis found would save almost $1bn over 10 years, and put the money into EV infrastructure, such as charging stations.
Bandt said more than $11bn of taxpayer funds were spent on fossil fuel subsidies every year and the government needed to start cutting the freebies, not adding to them.
“Public money should be driving the electric vehicle revolution, not giving handouts for petrol cars. Instead of spending $1bn subsidising petrol cars that people are already buying, the government should spend that money building charging stations in regional areas, as well as supporting people to install home chargers,” he said.
“Building charging stations across the country will make EVs more available to regional and rural Australians, while also giving everyone the confidence to drive longer distances.”
Pocock said he was thinking along similar lines.
“Analysis shows that around half of the kilometres travelled by plug-in hybrids use the petrol engine. This 50% petrol-powered travel time is with additional emissions from the extra weight of a battery and electric motor,” he said.
“The average lifespan of a car in Australia is about 10 years. A plug-in hybrid bought today will lock in emissions over the lifespan of the vehicle. We need to be moving away from transport emissions, not locking them in for longer.
“I’ve heard the argument that plug-in hybrids are needed in rural and regional areas because there is a lack of charging infrastructure. The solution to a lack of charging stations is to build more, not to shortchange regional Australia by failing to encourage uptake of purely electric vehicles that will provide long-term savings.”
The government has already committed to investing nearly $40m to build fast charging stations on Australia’s highways, complimenting state governments and motoring groups such as the NRMA’s investment in Australia’s EV infrastructure.
Electric vehicles currently make up 2% of Australia’s car market, with take-up lagging behind comparable nations because of lack of government incentives and expensive import costs. Labor has vowed to change that by cutting the fringe benefits tax and investing in infrastructure, but needs progressive votes in the Senate to make it happen.
State and territory government EV incentive programs exclude plug-in hybrids because they do not meet the zero-emission goals.
Australians bought nearly 3,000 plug-in hybrid vehicles in the first half of 2022, more than doubling the number sold during the same timeframe last year. However, a Senate committee heard the vehicles were not as green as people believed.
Research showed the real-world emissions of the vehicles were on average three to five times higher than what the cars were reported to emit, with the vehicles spending more time reliant on their petrol internal combustion mode than people assumed.
