New South Wales has topped the Electric Vehicle Council policy scorecard ratings for the first time with a rating of 9/10, after the Berejiklian Government introduced its nation-leading Electric Vehicle Strategy this year. 

The ratings are contained in EVC’s State of Electric Vehicles 2021 report, launched today. The report also finds 8,688 electric vehicles were sold in the first half 2021, already eclipsing the 6,900 electric vehicles sold over the whole of 2020. 

NSW narrowly beats the ACT (8/10) and the NT and Tas (7/10). Qld, SA, Vic, and WA scored 6/10. The federal government gets the lowest rating with 3/10, after failing to make meaningful inroads in line with other comparable jurisdictions around the world.

Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Behyad Jafari said with the global shift now undeniable the question for Australia was one of speed. 

“When you consider the rhetoric that was being pushed last federal election, the EV discussion in this country has come a long way quite quickly,” Mr Jafari said. 

“New South Wales has introduced Australia’s best electric vehicle policy to date. That $500m of investment and package of incentives to accelerate the uptake of zero emissions vehicles is finally something comparable with jurisdictions overseas. I know the whole industry is buoyant about the effect it will have on electric vehicle availability and sales.

“The movement across most states and territories is now generally positive and that’s providing greater confidence to private sector investors, which will pave the way for more places to charge and better services to support e-mobility. The chief headwind at the moment is, unfortunately, a continued lack of leadership on electric vehicles at the federal level. After promising a national strategy two years ago, the Federal Government has failed to deliver.

“We need to see more electric vehicle models in Australia, particularly at lower price points. That’s happening slowly, but if we want to accelerate the process and attract the globally limited electric vehicle supply, we need policies enacted at the national level, like fuel efficiency standards.

“Australia has more to gain than most countries on electric vehicles. If transition well we’ll be able to meet our net zero goals, break our dependency of foreign oil, and improve our air quality.”