National EV Focus Welcomed

The national focus provided by the Federal Government’s electric vehicle strategy will be critical to stronger uptake amongst motorists, according to the peak body for energy retailers and generators, the Australian Energy Council.

The AEC’s General Manager Corporate Affairs and Retail, Ben Barnes, said "To date we have had a fragmented approach which this national EV strategy is seeking to address.

"The centrepiece – the development of fuel efficiency standards - will be an effective way to encourage the take up of lower emissions vehicles and the strategy’s pathways for EV integration are welcomed.”

“The strategy also represents a genuine opportunity for ‘low-hanging fruit’ emissions reductions with an estimated 10 per cent of Australia’s overall carbon emissions coming from passenger vehicles.

"To date the bulk of the heavy lifting on emissions reductions has been in the electricity sector and projections for emissions from the transport sector show they will increase through to 2030, so measures to address that through greater electrification will make a useful contribution to meeting Australia’s climate targets.

“In an EV dominated future, electricity retailers and other third parties will both install and manage EV chargers in homes. They will also use smart functionality to communicate with and manage devices such as electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) on the customer’s behalf.

“The current national mix of inconsistent service and installation rules that apply to anyone wanting to connect EVSE to a network represents a significant barrier, along with multiple unique network connection processes.

“Clunky network connection processes are not a new issue but will certainly be exaggerated by the increased uptake of EVs so we welcome the Government’s attention to these issues,” Mr Barnes said.