With new emissions caps coming into effect in Australia from January 1, this year is expected to be a significant one for electric vehicles.
Electric utilities (utes), vans and sports cars from a wide range of automakers will roll into Australia over the next 12 months in what is expected to become a milestone year for low-emission vehicles.
The new rules will set a pollution cap for commercial fleets, utes and large four wheel drivers (4WDs) in an Australian first, keeping pace with existing regulations in other countries.
Electric Vehicle Council, Head of Legal, Policy and Advocacy, Aman Gaur welcomed the change saying that the caps “ushers in new standards for new cars in Australia” and moved the nation away from “outdated, high-emissions vehicles”.
However, not everyone was happy about the change with National Party leader David Littleproud saying that Australians have “been sleep walked into paying a new tax”.
Speaking to Sky News, Littleproud was scathing of the caps as he said that “manufacturers are moving towards zero emissions, but they need time and technology and they haven’t been given that.”
The New Vehicle Efficiency Standard will set pollution limits for passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles, applying to new cars and encouraging automakers to balance sales of high-polluting vehicles with low-emission electric and hybrid models.
Penalties for exceeding pollution limits will not be enforced until July, and some light commercial vehicles weighing between 3.5 and 4.5 tonnes will not immediately be required to go through carbon testing either.
However, before even coming into practice, the new outlines are already causing a change in the market as many brands launch plans for importing electric and hybrid electric cars.
It’s going to be an exciting year and there will be lots more makes and models hitting our shores,” Australian Electric Vehicle Association national president Chris Jones said.
“We’ve always been a very diverse, competitive passenger vehicle market.”
Even lesser known brands such as Zeekr, Smart and LDV have plans to bring electric cars to Australia during 2025, looking to compete with new EV launches from Volkswagen, Hyundai and Kia.
Jones said Australian motorists were keen to adopt low-polluting vehicles but were waiting for options that suited them, citing the the launch of BYD’s Shark 6 plug-in hybrid ute, which attracted almost 4,000 pre-orders.