Keep EV subsidies, industry says
Scrapping subsidies for electric vehicles would be counterproductive and make it harder for low-emission vehicles to gain a foothold in the Australian market, the peak EV industry body says.
As Premier Chris Minns flagged the potential removal of NSW’s $3000 EV subsidy in next month’s budget to cut costs, Electric Vehicle Association of Australia chief executive Behyad Jafari said state and federal subsidies were crucial to help boost the number of EVs in Australia.
Tesla Model Y remains among the best selling EVs in Australia.
Mr Jafari said EV subsidies have helped quadruple the number of low-emissions cars bought in Australia in the past two years and were not contributing to price rises, as claimed by Mr Minns.
“While there have been some price increases, that’s true across the market, not just for EVs,” he told The Australian Financial Review.
“In fact, for EVs, the two highest selling models that account for 60 per cent of sales in 2023 year-to-date – Tesla Model Y and Tesla Model 3 – have come down in price [by $6900 and $6500 respectively]. It shows how dynamic the market is.”
He said prices have come down market-wide and across brands and that was partly due to the state subsidy schemes.
In 2021, the cheapest EV in Australian was MG’s ZS for $44,990. In 2023, it’s now the BYD Dolphin for $38,390.
Over a three-week period this year, three new EV models were announced priced under $40,000 before on-road costs (BYD, MG and the GWM Ora).
Mr Jafari said since 2021 – when incentives were first introduced by state governments which was then followed by the federal government last year – sales of EVs increased from 2 per cent to 8.4 per cent market share.
He said it was clear incentives had contributed to the
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