The sale of new petrol cars would be completely banned from 2030 in Victoria, with rebates of up to $15,000 offered to people who buy electric vehicles under a Greens push to drive up usage levels.
The party’s Electric Vehicle Rapid Uptake Plan, to be launched on Tuesday, would see an additional 1000 chargers built, including at train station carparks and apartment blocks.
People with electric cars would also receive subsidies to purchase new bi-directional technology, which can charge electric cars through household rooftop solar panels, before then powering homes with the car’s remaining battery.
According to the RACV, the technology – also known as vehicle-to-home charging – takes power from the grid to charge the car’s battery. It can also supply power back to the grid.
Greens transport spokesman Sam Hibbins said Victoria needed to stand ready to embrace the technology, which isn’t yet fully established in Australia.
“The technology itself is still quite new. There’s still regulatory barriers and not that many models of cars have it available in Australia yet, but in the next year or so, it’s going to pop up so we really need to be ready for that,” he said.
“Bi-directional charging is really exciting technology. This would essentially enable people to charge their car off their solar panels, drive it around for the day and once you park it at home, you can use the excess energy in your car to power your home.”
Bi-directional chargers are expected to cost about $6000, with Mr Hibbins revealing the Greens would look to subsidise about half of the upfront cost.
Electric vehicle users would also save big under the policy, with automatic rebates of $10,000 for new purchases, and additional $5000 on offer as part of a scrap and replace scheme for people with older, more polluted cars.
“We’ve really got to send that signal to industry and manufacturers that they need to be building electric vehicles,” he said.
The Greens have promised to scrap the Andrews government’s “absolutely outrageous” tax on electric vehicles, with Mr Hibbins blaming the upfront cost as the “biggest deterrent” for people sticking with petrol and diesel cars.
The major policy announcement comes after Lexus revealed that a replacement for the battery in its UX electric SUV is $43,476 plus GST – more than half the price of the car, which retails for about $82,500.
An engine replacement costs about $12,000 for the popular Ford Ranger ute or roughly $6000 for a small hatchback such as a Hyundai i30.
But car makers argue the replacement cost is a moot point because most of the cars on sale have eight-year warranties and battery prices are expected to fall dramatically in the intervening period.
Extracted from Herald Sun