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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-04 Daily Xml
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Electric Vehicles

In reply to the Hon. M.C. PARNELL (3 March 2021).

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer): I have been advised:

1. At 28 February 2021, there were nine vehicles in the fleet that were purely electric. There were 38 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and 1,614 hybrid electric vehicles in the fleet.

2. Currently, there is limited availability of electric vehicles that are suitable for government operational needs. There are 18 vehicle segments in the government's passenger and light commercial motor vehicle fleet, and only two of these segments have purely electric vehicles available that have been deemed appropriate for government use. These are the Hyundai Ioniq in the passenger small segment, and the Hyundai Kona and MG ZS EV in the sport utility vehicle small segment.

As new models are released, charging infrastructure improves, charging times decrease, and the whole-of-life cost gets closer to parity with an internal combustion engined vehicle, the uptake of battery electric vehicles will increase.

From 1 January 2021, there has been an opt-out policy in place, where a government agency ordering a vehicle in a segment that has a plug-in electric vehicle available is to select the electric vehicle. To 'opt-out', agencies need to demonstrate that a plug-in electric vehicle is not fit-for-purpose, not cost-effective or cannot be integrated through further fleet efficiencies. Currently, costs are high and infrastructure is in its infancy. With $18.3 million committed to the Electric Vehicle Action Plan, and vehicle manufacturers intending to import a range of battery electric vehicles into Australia, it is expected that the uptake will be slow in the first couple of years, before increasing from 2025 as infrastructure and cost improve.

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