50% of New Car Sales to be Electric by 2030.
The ALP wants half of new car sales to be electric vehicles by 2030 and 50 per cent of the government’s fleet to be electric by 2025.
Australian Greens policy is “no more new petrol or diesel cars on roads by 2030”. They want it to be 100% Electric.
Elon Musk (the battery man) says: “no question, Australia can meet 50% electric car target by 2030″. He used Norway as an example of how a countries new car sales can exceed 50% already, in 2019.
Norway: New Car Sales March 2019
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- 18,375 new passenger cars were registered in Norway in March 2019 according to the OFV.
- 10,732 were rated with zero emissions. 10,728 of those vehicles were electric and four were hydrogen-powered.
Australia: New Car Sales March 2019
During March 2019, Australian consumers bought 99,442 vehicles according to VFACTS.
SUVs and LCVs represented 67.5 per cent of new vehicle sales in the Australian market during March 2019.
This leaves 32.5 per cent in the Passenger Vehicle segment (32,320 passenger vehicles). Source: VFACTS
How can Norway do it?
On average, Norwegians are among the richest people in the world, meaning many of the country’s citizens can afford a new electric car.
Norwegians who opted for a zero-emissions car enjoyed a wealth of benefits, including an exemption from sales, import and road taxes.
Norway is a significant producer and supplier of fossil fuels to the global market, and the country’s wealth has been boosted by its rich energy reserves.
Norway population 5.4 million
Australia population 25.3 million
According to the Oil & Gas Journal, Norway had 6.37 billion barrels of proved crude oil reserves as of January 1, 2018, the largest oil reserves in Western Europe.
Norway was the world’s third–largest exporter of natural gas after Russia and Qatar and the seventh–largest producer of dry natural gas.
Australia has an estimated 46 per cent of uranium resources, 6 per cent of coal resources, and 2 per cent of natural gas resources in the world. But only about 0.3 per cent of world oil reserves.
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- Maybe Nuclear cars should be Australia’s thing…
Interesting note:
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- An electric car with a typical daily commute of 40km requires roughly 6–8 kilowatt hours of energy to recharge, which is equivalent to the daily needs of a small household.
Sources:
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- https://www.eia.gov/beta/international/analysis.php?iso=NOR
- https://www.fcai.com.au/news/index/index/year/all/month/all/article/564
- https://www.npr.org/2019/04/02/709131281/electric-cars-hit-record-in-norway-making-up-nearly-60-of-sales-in-march