National Electric Vehicle Strategy consultation open until October 31

Consultation for the strategy opened on Wednesday and will see Australia's second largest source of national emissions, transport, come under the microscope.

Transport makes up 19pc of the country's emissions and close to 85pc of this figure comes from road transport, including 22pc from heavy vehicles.

Goals of the strategy include making EVs more affordable, expanding uptake and choice and reducing emissions.

It is hoped the strategy will raise the pace and scale of change as well as deliver a national consistent, comprehensive and overarching framework.

Addressing barriers to EV uptake such as the limited availability of affordable models and range anxiety due to gaps in the charging network will also be a focus.

The federal government has already committed to addressing the latter through its $500 million Driving the Nation Fund, which will establish a national EV charging network and a hydrogen refuelling network on major highways.

Through this program, charging stations will be provided at an average interval of 150 kilometres on major roads.

The government will also look at private, state and territory government efforts to avoid duplication.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said at the heart of the national strategy would be a plan to improve affordability and choice for consumers by growing the Australian EV market.

Mr Bowen said it would be a genuine consultation to inform the right policy settings to get more affordable electric vehicles on the roads.

"Right now, Australians miss out on a wider choice of affordable EVs because of our policy settings are outdated," he said.

"It's time for Australians to get a fair go when they're deciding on their next car."

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The Australian government is a signatory to the 2021 Glasgow Breakthrough on Road Transport, which states zero-emissions vehicles need to be accessible, affordable and sustainable in all regions by 2030 to 2035.

All of Europe's major manufacturers have committed to electrifying most of their vehicle offerings between 2030 and 2035.

While the United States, Ford and General Motors plan to sell zero emissions vehicles by 2035.

More than 80pc of the global car market has vehicle fuel efficiency standards, which have been used as an indicator for manufacturers to increase the supply of EVs and low emissions vehicles.

Australia does not have its own standards in place and this has been flagged as one of the reasons why limited numbers of EVs are supplied here.

It's clear that consumer demand is rising though, with national EV sales tripling from 2020 to 2021 from 6900 to 20,665, respectively.

Electric Vehicle Council CEO Behyad Jafari said the unfortunate truth was that until now, Australia had lagged the world on electric vehicle policy.

Mr Jafari said Australia had been at the back of the global queue for new vehicles but with the right policy settings progress could be accelerated.

"The discussion paper is correct to focus on demand and supply as the necessary first steps towards building a dynamic domestic EV sector," he said.

"Australia can absolutely be an EV powerhouse, employing Australians to build products right across the EV supply chain but we won't realise those opportunities while our standards lag the rest of the world.

"The most urgent next step from this process is a strong fuel efficiency standard that reflects best practice."

The consultation paper acknowledges that there are unique challenges for the uptake of EVs in rural and regional Australia.

It also states that battery EV technology is less advanced for heavy vehicles while hydrogen fuel cell EV production is increasing.

Planning will be required for declines in fuel excise revenue from the reduced use of petrol and diesel.

Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Minister Catherine King said the consultation would ensure people were heard to make EVs more accessible to Australians.

"Part of the consultation is about the government seeking stakeholder views on vehicle fuel efficiency standards, including their application, design and implementation," Ms King said.

"Our cars are less fuel efficient on average than Europe and the US. Now is the time for Australia to join the rest of the world and electrify our road transport."

Consultation for the strategy closes on October 31.