TRICKLE CHARGE COULD SLOW EV PROGRESS

TECH TORQUE FRASER STRONACH

LAST month, we addressed the concern about the future availability of diesel and petrol fuels. The conclusion: there’s no need to panic! Both will be available for decades to come, no question about it.

Next concern? Are we about to be swamped with EVs? Well, yes, they are coming, but probably not nearly as quickly as you may think. And is it a bad thing anyway?

The take-up rate of EVs will depend on many things, but much comes down to future political decisions both in Australia and more significantly globally. The total ban on the sale of diesel and petrol cars flagged for 2030 or thereabouts that would leave no option but to buy an EV, may happen in some smaller European countries and perhaps some individual states of the USA, but elsewhere in the world this is more political grandstanding than anything else at this point in time.

Right now, EV sales in Australia are enjoying a huge increase in popularity (a 500 per cent year-on-year increase by most recent figures) due to the arrival of new EV models, but are still just 2.8 per cent of the combined passenger, SUV and light commercial vehicle markets.