As promised, the Albanese Government has kicked off broad consultation on Australia’s first National Electric Vehicle Strategy. And unlike the low-emissions vehicles pseudo-strategy released by the other mob last year, this could turn out to be the real deal for accelerating EV uptake.
Last year, EVs represented just under 2% of new light vehicle sales in Australia, compared with 9% globally. Australia’s poor uptake isn’t due to a lack of interest. Many Australians want an electric car, but issues relating to affordability, availability and infrastructure need to be addressed.
“Right now, Australians miss out on a wider choice of affordable EVs because of our policy settings are outdated,” state Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King. “It’s time for Australians to get a fair go when they’re deciding on their next car.”
The consultation paper requests feedback on a range of issues, including:
- How to make electric vehicles more affordable
- Increasing EV charging infrastructure
- Slashing road transport emissions
- Introducing fuel efficiency standards
- Boosting local EV-related manufacturing.
The introduction of fuel efficiency standards is a particularly important aspect, as that will help address the other focus issues. It’s a lack of these standards that maintains Australia’s reputation as an EV backwater, as it encourages manufacturers to send their EVs elsewhere where such standards exist.
Ministers Bowen and King state in the paper’s foreword:
“Today, Australians are being sold some of the highest emitting cars in the world. On average, new passenger vehicles in Australia have around 20% higher emissions than the United States, and around 40% higher emissions than in Europe. We need to catch up to the rest of the world when it comes to transport emissions.”
There’s a lot of misinformation and disinformation still floating around about these standards. Find out how fuel efficiency standards (done right) work.
“A Breath Of Fresh Air”
The Electric Vehicle Council seemed pretty pleased with the consultation paper’s contents.
“It is a breath of fresh air to see a federal government take this issue so seriously, acting on a national policy within the first months of its administration,” said CEO Behyad Jafari. “The discussion paper is correct to focus on demand and supply as the necessary first steps towards building a dynamic domestic EV sector.”
“A Step In The Right Direction”
Solar Citizens was also very positive about the consultation.
“After almost a decade of stalling, pit stops and roadblocks on Australia’s electric vehicle (EV) policy, it’s refreshing to see a genuine consultation process open – this is indeed a step in the right direction,” said Ajaya Haikerwal, Clean Transport Campaigner at Solar Citizens.
The Department of Industry, Science and Resources will be hosting online sessions to discuss the National Electric Vehicle Strategy (NEVS) consultation paper, and the feedback period ends on October 31, 2022. Further details, including how to lodge a submission, can be found here.
“All Australians are encouraged to have their say on how we can transform Australia’s transport sector through the development of the National Electric Vehicle Strategy,” state Ministers Bowen and King.
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Technical questions – kind of related to the article – well to battery electric vehicles and their implementation, so, I think this post is related.
Maybe Finn, as electrical engineer, needs to answer these – I do not know.
First question – please view the web page at https://bydt3campervan.wordpress.com/blog/, and scroll down to the part with the photo of the power board hanging off the van, where it is about V2L; where a vehicle can be charged from A/C at about 7kW, and, in the case of that blog page, I believe he has charged his van at about 6-8A on single phase, so, less than 2kW, and, where the vehicle can provide V2L, at around 2kW, what is to stop the V2L draw, from being increased to up to the A/C single phase charging rate of 7kW, and, thence, when they become legal and available in Australia, can a BEV with that capability, also be used for V2H,m with a so-named “bidirectional charger”?
If a rooftop PV system with a BESS, can discharge the BESS to meet the load for the house, at around 1-5kW (the limit of the backup circuit on a single phase, 5kW hybrid inverter with UPS capability), can a BEV with V2L capability, and, A/C charging at up to 7kW, provide V2H discharging of up to 5kW, via a “bidirectional charger”, when they become available?
If not, why not?
And, here is the punchline question, apart from the significance of the preceding questions; in terms of regulatory restrictions, does a “bidirectional charger” constitute an additional inverter, thus, in the tyrannical dictatorship in WA, where the PENO Party state government is hostile to household rooftop PV systems, imposing the gratuitously malicious 5kW limit on single phase systems, instead of export limiting, and the “We have ways of forcing you to use electricity generated by burning things” policy, would a “bidirectional” BEV charger, in addition to a PV inverter, be prohibited, on a single phase electricity supply, on the basis that it constitutes an additional inverter?
Michael Bloch,
“The introduction of fuel efficiency standards is a particularly important aspect, as that will help address the other focus issues.”
Will it? I think it’s predicated on the assumption that petroleum fuels will remain AFFORDABLE and ABUNDANT in this decade (and beyond). I’d suggest accumulating data indicates many people are probably going to be very disappointed, and soon!
IMO, introducing fuel efficiency standards now for new ICEVs sold in Australia (probably by 2025 at the earliest?) would be of little (if any) benefit – see my earlier comments to you at: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/fuel-efficiency-australia-mb2601/#comment-1490626
US petroleum geologist Art Berman suggests:
https://twitter.com/aeberman12/status/1574818535888617473
Also, the ‘tight’ / ‘unconventional’ oil supply outlook is not as much as you might think:
https://twitter.com/aeberman12/status/1574821179201916940
US ‘tight’ oil is ill-suited for producing diesel & kerosene/jet fuels.
https://www.desmog.com/2018/04/24/octane-surprising-reason-shale-oil-makes-poor-fuel-high-tech-cars-and-trucks/
Meanwhile, at the April 2019 General Meeting of the American Philosophical Society, glaciologist Professor Eric Rignot confirmed that the whole of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is now committed to melting, and the Greenland Ice Sheet loss is irreversible with current warming.
https://twitter.com/MarkCranfield_/status/1565817685455376384
Either humanity rapidly reduces GHG emissions (from ALL fossil fuels, etc.) as fast as possible, as well as engage in large-scale atmospheric carbon drawdown to reduce CO₂ concentrations well below 350 ppm, or civilisation collapses later this century.