Free rego for EV's- is this happening here?

Post by **Lazarus_EV1** » Sun, 05 Apr 2009, 03:21

Just read recently on another EV story on wired.com that in New Zealand, they don't have to pay on-road costs for electric vehicles. Seems they're actually serious about climate change etc.

Are there wheels in motion in Australia to get a similar policy to spur uptake and development of EV's? Or do I have to write a letter to a bureaucrat?

=)

Post by **woody** » Mon, 06 Apr 2009, 16:03

I got the impression from kiwi-EV that the situation was better here in Aus than in NoiZyland:

Aus: totally side-step Fuel Excise by charging up on Excise-Free electricity
NZ: pay a "road users fee" based on distance travelled which applies to vehicles not using taxed fuel

Post by **Peter C in Canberra** » Mon, 06 Apr 2009, 17:15

In the ACT you get 20% off the normal rego. Not much but better than nothing. So far only one person taking advantage of it as far as I know but hopefully I will be the second in a few months.
Peter.

Post by **Lazarus_EV1** » Mon, 06 Apr 2009, 18:11

Yeah it was the "road-usage fee" that is completely waived for electric vehicles, or so I read. That's really the kind of serious policy we need here if EV's are going to get a kick-start.

Do we really have to wait until GM or Toyota finally decide they want to market these things here, or can the govt have a little foresight and be ahead of the curve for once?

Would be great to have Aussie manufacturers take a lead on this one- even if it were only on conversions... (or at least be given that opportunity by more supportive policies)

Post by **lithbattboss** » Mon, 06 Apr 2009, 20:19

Lazarus_EV1 wrote: Yeah it was the "road-usage fee" that is completely waived for electric vehicles, or so I read. That's really the kind of serious policy we need here if EV's are going to get a kick-start.

Do we really have to wait until GM or Toyota finally decide they want to market these things here, or can the govt have a little foresight and be ahead of the curve for once?

Would be great to have Aussie manufacturers take a lead on this one- even if it were only on conversions... (or at least be given that opportunity by more supportive policies)

....are you joking...the Australian Government take the lead...they could never let that happen!
At least the US government is showing some foresight by now providing a 30% rebate to owners of hybrid electric vehicles in the USA who decide to convert their cars to plug in electric(PHEV). This is opening a whole new industry of workshops who are converting existing hybrids like Toyota Prius's and Honda Insight's to purely electic drive. If only our government would follow the lead of the US government.

Post by **acmotor** » Mon, 06 Apr 2009, 20:28

I have that hybrid shudder again.

Have you driven a prius on emotor only ?

US govt. would get even more value for future dollar if they paid 50% subsidy on teslas (the present US$7,500 is a great start though)

Anyway.
If Oz govt was cleaver they would say to Mitsi... build mievs in Adelaide and we will order the first 10,000 , payment in advance.
Oh well.

Post by **fuzzy-hair-man** » Mon, 06 Apr 2009, 21:03

acmotor wrote: I have that hybrid shudder again.

Have you driven a prius on emotor only ?

US govt. would get even more value for future dollar if they paid 50% subsidy on teslas (the present US$7,500 is a great start though)

Anyway.
If Oz govt was cleaver they would say to Mitsi... build mievs in Adelaide and we will order the first 10,000 , payment in advance.
Oh well.

Or even better, energetique or Blade EV we'll order the first 10.000 in advance!!

I totally agree, Australian auto manufacture is the little guy and the only way the little guy competes with the big guys is to be innovative and dynamic if you want the Australian car industry to be more than an industry requiring a continual government lifeline I reckon it needs to get the message to innovate and be progressive, EVs are the next thing if we went hard into EVs say a year back or so then the rest of the world could have been buying EVs from us as it is I suspect we missed the opportunity a bit and will have to really get moving or play without the advantage of a head start.

Post by **acmotor** » Tue, 07 Apr 2009, 01:07

Ummm sort of.
Unless Blade were able to purchase rolling chassis only getz ex factory (no unbuilding) and have the resources to supply 10,000 vehicles in 12 months then it is not quite what I was thinking.
They and others should be included in the overall game plan of course but my main focus was a major OEM already with facilities in Oz to build a specific ground up (as far as possible) EV that will slot straight into the market. Yes, then export it from Oz while we have the head start.

Post by **fuzzy-hair-man** » Tue, 07 Apr 2009, 16:34

Yeah I know the practicalities are probably a bit out there, I would just prefer to see Australian companies getting the support to build in Australia and I think it would be neat to see an Australian car company rather than paying to overseas companies to build here. Now would be one of the best times to do it because the game the Toyota, Ford, and GM have been playing is coming to an end and they don't yet know all there is to know about building electric cars, they still have an advantage sure because they know how to build cars but no where near what it will be in a couple of years or so once they've learned more about building EVs.

I think if you could give Blade or energetique a large contract and some certainty I think it would vastly expand what they could look at for possibilities. Hyundai were already agreeing to honoring the warranty on the Blade EVs that (I think) were being imported into NZ> it's not a huge step to sell Getz without engines if volumes indicated it was worthwhile.

Post by **acmotor** » Tue, 07 Apr 2009, 16:51

Of course, agreed on the Oz company sentiment.
However, if hyundai were ever to sell a rolling chassis then they would build EVs themselves.
An Oz assembled miev would be as "Australian" as an imported donor, imported motor and imported batteries which is all we can manage so far.
I know I'll get flamed for that.

I do hope for more support for everyone pushing the EV front, from the private convertor up. Even if we had to scrap the solar and LPG rebates to do it. Electric transport is the big issue.

Post by **evric** » Tue, 07 Apr 2009, 17:09

BEV can purchase engineless Hyundais, but they have to purchase 2000-3000 at a time.

Post by **acmotor** » Tue, 07 Apr 2009, 17:29

2000 getz. That is a brick wall ! What price advantage ?

OK, so they need $20M up front + motor controller and batteries (delivery 18 months on that qty ?) $100M should do it. But then you have 2000 hard to sell vehicles so subsidise them by $30k each. Now your looking at $200M or so and 18 months + time.

You can see the Govt dilema. At this point of time they would jump if there was somewhere to land.
Not trying to be negative here just wondering how these things might work out.

Perhaps Oz should specialise in batteries or something ? We've got the dirt !

Post by **woody** » Tue, 07 Apr 2009, 17:36

Lazarus_EV1 wrote: Yeah it was the "road-usage fee" that is completely waived for electric vehicles, or so I read. That's really the kind of serious policy we need here if EV's are going to get a kick-start.

In NSW anyway, that's the gov't policy by default - no excise or equivalent for EV's. This is the case through inaction though, I think NZ law had this "Road Tax" for non diesel / petrol vehicle anyway, and have now excluded electrics too.