Petrol price spikes have intensified calls for EV adoption, but certain household barriers may need to be addressed and key reforms implemented before the country can transition to electric faster, experts have warned.
For many apartment and city dwellers, electric vehicles remain impractical, while renters might also effectively be locked out of the rapidly approaching EV revolution because of limited scope to install home charging facilities critical for battery charging.
For those who live in apartment complexes, owners’ corporations strict rules regarding renovations and infrastructure changes can prevent chargers from being installed.
The communal use might also become problematic for the shared price of charging, while older apartment blocks can also be a roadblock when ensuring charging facilities are up to standard.
Other suburbs (typically inner city) might not have access to driveways, parking facilities or carports, making charging almost impossible at home.
While new build-to rent communities are shaping their homes to embed EV car services, other experts are spotlighting how the government can assist for broader ownership and infrastructure.
Owning an EV can be more difficult for renters and those who don’t have access to their own driveways or parking facilities.
A new Climate Council report has cast a spotlight on how federal budget measures could shield Aussies from the fuel price spikes caused by global conflicts and supply disruptions.
The analysis released in ‘Pedal to the Metal: A Budget to Break Free from Fuel Chaos’ outlines key measures the Albanese Government can implement to shore up long-term energy security, lower costs and cut climate pollution.
This included electrification, renewables, batteries, and cleaner transport, to cut fossils fuel dependency permanently.
Tim Buckley, founder and director at Climate Energy Finance, said the recent fuel hike has been another reminder of how vulnerable the Australian economy is to ongoing fossil fuel disruptions and wars in the Middle East.
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The upcoming May federal budget has a range of experts demanding long-term fuel crisis initiatives. Picture: NewsWire /Brendan Beckett
“The importance of energy, independence, energy, security was brought to the national conscience about three to four years ago when Putin invaded Ukraine and we saw the global gas price, coal and oil price go up,” he said.
“We need to have a long-term plan this time around.”
Key principles outlined in the report included reducing fuel dependence with electric vehicles, shared and active transport and powering heavy industry with Australian renewables rather than imported diesel. Other principles were cutting household bills with electrified homes, solar and batteries and making gas corporations pay their fair share of tax.
Mr Buckley said Europe and China embraced EVs far faster than Australia, spotlighting their high population densities and government investment in strategic enabling of charging infrastructure.
Source: Climate Council
“I think EVs are inevitable and this war in Iran has really given everyone the wake up call to say, hang on wouldn’t it be nice to not be suffering every week filling up your petrol vehicle,” he said.
“Its money that you’d be far better off actually paying five bucks for a charger or nothing by charging at home on a slow charger from your rooftop solar.
“Now, the emphasis has to be on the government’s role to make sure we bring the whole of the Australian economy and people along, not just the privileged half.”
Mr Buckley said he hopes to see reforms that provide financial incentives to electrify and decarbonise energy needs for transport, be it freight, passenger vehicles, mining and then at a slower pace for farmers and agriculture.
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Source: Climate Council
Mr Buckley pointed to infrastructure needed to assist EV drivers.
“When you get out of the city and the major towns that you’re going to really feel the risk as an EV driver,” he said.
“Otherwise in a year’s time we’re going to have three times as many EVs on the road as we have today and then we’re going to have massive queues at Easter 2027 and then there’ll be a backlash by consumers if we haven’t actually rolled out the charging infrastructure.”
James Pickering national president of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association said the adoption of electric vehicles has accelerated over the last five years.
“We’ve seen even in February prior to the most recent oil shock, a doubling of the number of EVs purchased versus February the previous years,” he said.
Many experts are urging the adoption of EV cars for everyday household budgets in light of recent fuel hikes
“We’ve also obviously seen an increase in the number of EVs again purchased in March and I think it really indicates that Australians by and large have been looking at electrification for their next vehicle and perhaps the broader economic and global events have brought forward some of those decisions.
“Surveying our members in the public and from global surveys – less than three per cent of Australians would switch back and globally it’s less than 10 per cent of all EV drivers would switch back.”
Mum of two and EV owner Kylie Flament from Illawarra (Woonona) said she decided five years ago to get an electronic vehicle for environmental reasons.
Kylie Flamnet with her EV car
“Obviously climate change is caused by burning fossil fuels, so I didn’t want to be someone running around in an internal combustion engine car anymore and EVs were starting to come on the market at affordable rates,” she said.
“It’s been great, very zippy, very easy to get around and very cheap compared to petrol and that was five years ago, let alone now.”
Ms Flamnet has multiple jobs, including her role as CEO of The Social Enterprise Council of NSW and ACT that requires her to travel across the state.
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Kylie Flamnet said she purchased her EV five years ago for environmental reasons
She said with her EV, any rise in petrol prices has zero effect on her ability to continue her work travel.
“There’s a lot of interest in EVs now and people are more aware that not only there’s the fuel prices right now, it’s also shown our reliance on fuel is maybe not as certain as people once thought,” she said.
“Some interest we’re hearing from our friends is that they want to have more control over their own costs and their own destiny and that’s their reasons for trying to get into the EV market.”
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