Electric vehicles are being “caught in the culture wars”, according to one expert. 

Saul Griffith - an Australian engineer and renewable energy expert who has advised the US government on their plans for large scale electrification, including in transport - says Australia is ignoring the benefits and possibilities of electric vehicles (EVs). 

“We let the electric vehicle be caught in the culture wars around fossil fuels, which is a tragedy,” he has told reporters.

“We have the lowest cost of electricity in the world. We stand to save the most money by electrifying our vehicles and electrifying our heat.

“If we electrified the majority of our domestic economy, we'd be saving every household $3,000 to $5,000 a year in total. That's billions of dollars per year for the nation. We have everything to win here.”

Mr Griffith said he could not see why governments would incentivise rooftop solar panels but not electric vehicles. 

“Rooftop solar in Australia is cheaper than the cheapest grid supply electricity in the world. But crazily we import oil instead of using that cheap resource to power our vehicles,” he said.

“We need a suite of policies, like our rooftop solar, that promote electric vehicle adoption in every possible way, whether that's tax incentives, whether that's rebates, whether that's subsidies, we need to build the market, we need to deploy the networks for charging. And we need to do it as quickly as possible.

“The correct Australian EV policy is when we're making this the politics of Parramatta and Geelong. How do we help every Australian household succeed in saving money, helping their children have healthier air driving EVs?”

Currently, EVs fall under the federal luxury car importation tax. Many have suggested removing this barrier as an aid to EV uptake, but after recent consultation, Minister for Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor decided not to.

“We're not into subsidising luxury cars, it's not something we're going to do as a government,” Mr Taylor said.

“People who have the money to buy a luxury car are welcome to go out and do that. And we are seeing people buying, you know, expensive electric vehicles, and that's up to them. That's their choice, good on them.”

In Victoria, the state government is planning to tax EVs and hybrid cars for their road use, which is likely to reduce uptake there as well.