Where Are Australia’s Electric Vehicles?

If electric vehicles are indeed the future, is there a plan to roll them out? And will they become more affordable in Australia? Car Expert Paul Maric explains.

As we look around the world, electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming much more commonplace – and, yet, here in Australia they account for less than 1 per cent of new car sales. So, exactly where are they?

Co-founder of carexpert.com.au Paul Maric explains the differences between the new technology and the traditional cars we’re used to.

“A standard car uses an internal combustion engine, which is effectively a fuel: petrol or diesel being fed into a chamber… and it creates motion through a driveline.” Paul said.

“An electric car does away with all of that: no petrol, no diesel. It’s powered by batteries and has far less moving parts than a traditional internal combustion car.”

Paul shared that EVs generally have a lot more power than traditional fuel-powered cars do. In fact, the current quickest car in the world is a Tesla. So with all these benefits (not to mention those for the environment), where are Australia’s electric vehicles?

Paul said a lot of it is due to the price. At present, a new Tesla will set you back between $73,000 and $144,000.

“It’s simply because batteries are expensive to manufacture,” he said.

“Over time, the cost of batteries will come down. But until that point, we’re going to see electric cars cost more in comparison to internal combustion cars.

“Another problem we’ll face in the future is when there’s an accelerated demand for EVs, we’re going to need faster charging.

“At the moment the fastest you can charge an EV from empty is around 15-20 minutes. When you compare that to a petrol car that you can fill up in 4 to 5 minutes, we’re a little off that technology being mainstream enough to not have massive traffic jams at charging stations if they were to become popular.”

Hear Paul Maric explain more about electric vehicles in the player above.