Companies Urge Australian Government To Join Electric Cars' Movement

Apr 13, 2016 06:21 AM EDT | Tes Christiansen

The green car movement has reached the lot of companies, which are calling for the Australian government to act on electric cars, with the country's increasing production of low to zero-emission cars. With Tesla's release of the Model 3, many Australians have since pre-ordered online, prompting stakeholders to tap on the government to pursue electric cars instead.

Gizmodo AU reported that electric car production in Australia have only made up 0.01 percent in the market over the years, whereas other countries like the UK reached market shares to 1.1 percent. Australian customers may seem not as excited to become EV owners unlike their overseas counterparts, however, consumer choice is still the major reason behind it.

Tesla Motors have been successful in penetrating the Australian EV market, with the company's network of Superchargers readily accessible along the east coast. Not to mention Tesla's array of benefits for its car owners, since EV purchases in the country get curbed by the Luxury Car Tax that directly applies to EVs valued above $75,375, as per the news agency.

According to CleanTechnica, this ongoing shift to EVs from petrol cars have served as a springboard for Australian utilities (such as oil and energy companies) to follow suit. One of the country's leading integrated energy companies, Origin Energy, believes that Australia could lead the market involving solar vehicles.

"With an already high penetration of residential solar PV systems in Queensland and South Australia and the emergence of home battery technologies, there is an exciting opportunity for Australia to be a market leader in electric vehicles powered by solar energy," in a statement by the company to the Climate Change Authority.

Origin Energy is also in favor of policies which could potentially increase the demand for EVs, such as added infrastructure for charge point locations, stamp duty reductions, as well as preferred parking and traffic lane zones.

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