00:00EV sales are increasing. Now, in June, we saw those sales hit a record high of 10.3%.
00:12So that's 10.3% of all new vehicle sales in Australia. And if you include plug-in hybrid
00:19models, you can take that up to 15%. So that's very positive for the take-up of EVs and reducing
00:29emissions. But still a long way to go, of course. And how low are prices? And are they
00:36going to fall further? Well, at the moment, you can get a new EV. The cheapest you can get is about
00:42$30,000, a little under $30,000. That's not including road costs. Now, industry figures
00:49that we've spoken to said you can get a reasonably decent second-hand EV for about $15,000. But of
00:57course, that is still high for many consumers. And there is a bit of a debate about whether
01:03some of those more mid-range EVs, so EVs priced about $50,000 to $60,000, are as a good quality
01:11as some of the internal combustion engine vehicles out there. But the good news is that competition
01:18is increasing here. Now, Australia has long been the dumping ground for high emissions
01:26vehicles. But after years of debate, this year, we finally adopted the new vehicle emission
01:35standards. The federal government implemented those this year. And while, of course, there
01:39has been a lot of criticism about whether those emission standards are strong enough, what industry
01:45observers are telling us is that from this month, car makers are going to be subject to penalties.
01:53So, basically, if they don't meet the emission, or if they exceed, rather, the emissions caps
02:00for the fleet of vehicles they sell in Australia every year, that they'll be hit with penalties.
02:07Now, those penalties will ramp up over the next few years. And what industry figures such as
02:13Giles Parkinson, who is the founder of The Driven, have told us is that basically what this policy
02:21does is that it acts as an incentive for these car makers that continue to sell internal combustion
02:29engine vehicles to shift their own EVs and hybrids at a lower cost.
02:36If they don't meet those sales numbers or those emissions standard, and it's an average, it's
02:42not applied to each individual car. It's an average over a year. If they don't meet that
02:46average, then they have to pay another car maker credits. And they'd rather keep the money
02:50to themselves. And even if they have to take a bit of a loss on their own car, they'd probably
02:54prefer to get that out of the door.
02:56So, Rihanna, experts are warning about roadblocks. What are the barriers?
02:59Yeah, that's right. Now, any EV driver out there will no doubt say that while there might be
03:07more charging infrastructure out there, it's not necessarily reliable. You don't necessarily
03:12know where it is. And basically, we don't have a consistent strategy to that. We still don't
03:18have a national charging infrastructure plan. So, that means that there is a patchwork of charging
03:25stations around the country. And that sometimes the power supply can be either too low, meaning
03:33it takes a longer time to charge your vehicle. Now, another potential problem for the EV market
03:43is looming taxes. So, there is talk of a road user tax for electric vehicles to replace the
03:52fuel excise. Now, many industry figures say that that is something that is inevitable, that it is
03:58fair that all vehicle owners will have to pay to use the road. There's also talk of a review of the
04:06fringe benefits tax exemption for EVs, which has been credited as driving sales of those vehicles.
04:15Let's have a listen to Scott Maynard. He is the managing director of Polestar, which is one of the
04:23Chinese brands that's eyeing off the Australian market.
04:27That's an exemption that's been afforded to those vehicles since 1986 and cost taxpayers billions of
04:32dollars. It makes far more sense to put those subsidies against vehicles that are going to create
04:38cleaner air, help our health and also put vehicles in the hands of customers that are cheaper to get
04:44into and cheaper to own. So, positive signs for the EV market, but still roadblocks ahead.
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