Australia struggles to ditch SUV habit even as electric vehicle sales hit record
Government's national EV strategy starting to bear fruit
04 January 2024 - 07:54
byReuters
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Sydney — While electric vehicle (EV) sales in Australia hit an all-time high in 2023, according to the country's automotive association, light vehicle sales remained dominated by emissions-intensive trucks and sports utility vehicles (SUVs).
Battery-electric vehicles were 7.2% of all vehicles sold in 2023, more than double the 3.1% recorded in 2022, according to data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries on Thursday.
The sales share for 2023 rises to 16.2% of all new vehicle sales once hybrids and plug-in hybrids are included, almost one in every five vehicles.
After a decade of conservative governments that opposed EV adoption, the current centre-left Labour government, which won power in 2022, has launched a national EV strategy and provided hundreds of millions for clean transport.
Transport is one of Australia's largest sources of emissions and the growing adoption of electric vehicles bolsters the government's pledge to cut emissions by 43% by 2030.
However, Australians continue to prefer SUVs or light commercial vehicles, models which usually come with higher emissions when fossil fuelled. The two categories accounted for 78.4% of all new vehicle sales in 2023.
The Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux, the two most popular vehicles and a tenth of all those sold in 2023, tend to emit more carbon dioxide than average.
Efforts to increase the take-up of electric vehicles have long been plagued by shortages, a limited number of models and sparse and sometimes faulty charging equipment.
As a result adoption for many years lagged countries like the US or Britain, where sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids hit 7.7% and 23%, respectively, in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.
Energy minister Chris Bowen said in November the government would soon release details of its long-awaited fuel efficiency standards, a policy that advocates say will spur manufacturers to send more EVs to Australia and further boost adoption.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Australia struggles to ditch SUV habit even as electric vehicle sales hit record
Government's national EV strategy starting to bear fruit
Sydney — While electric vehicle (EV) sales in Australia hit an all-time high in 2023, according to the country's automotive association, light vehicle sales remained dominated by emissions-intensive trucks and sports utility vehicles (SUVs).
Battery-electric vehicles were 7.2% of all vehicles sold in 2023, more than double the 3.1% recorded in 2022, according to data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries on Thursday.
The sales share for 2023 rises to 16.2% of all new vehicle sales once hybrids and plug-in hybrids are included, almost one in every five vehicles.
After a decade of conservative governments that opposed EV adoption, the current centre-left Labour government, which won power in 2022, has launched a national EV strategy and provided hundreds of millions for clean transport.
Transport is one of Australia's largest sources of emissions and the growing adoption of electric vehicles bolsters the government's pledge to cut emissions by 43% by 2030.
However, Australians continue to prefer SUVs or light commercial vehicles, models which usually come with higher emissions when fossil fuelled. The two categories accounted for 78.4% of all new vehicle sales in 2023.
The Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux, the two most popular vehicles and a tenth of all those sold in 2023, tend to emit more carbon dioxide than average.
Efforts to increase the take-up of electric vehicles have long been plagued by shortages, a limited number of models and sparse and sometimes faulty charging equipment.
As a result adoption for many years lagged countries like the US or Britain, where sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids hit 7.7% and 23%, respectively, in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.
Energy minister Chris Bowen said in November the government would soon release details of its long-awaited fuel efficiency standards, a policy that advocates say will spur manufacturers to send more EVs to Australia and further boost adoption.
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