ALP electric car plan costs more says minister
AUSTRALIA’S energy minister says people should be able to buy electric cars on their own whim instead of being forced to fork out more for fuel-efficient vehicles.
Angus Taylor says modelling shows most cars would cost more under Labor’s plan to put carbon pollution standards on vehicles because the most popular cars wouldn’t meet them.
Mr Taylor says the Morrison government’s electric vehicle plan would not impose emission standards, and the Coalition supports a take-up of electric cars led by demand.
Mr Taylor said bumping up the price on cars producing more emissions is the only way to get people to buy cars that discharge less, and pointed to a 2016 report that found cars could cost up to $4863 more to meet a 105g/km target.
“Labor has been clear that manufacturers and dealers will need to meet those vehicle emissions standards,” Mr Taylor said in Brisbane yesterday.
“The only way they’re going to be able to do that is to raise the price of higher-emitting vehicles ... to ... force people to buy lower-emitting vehicles.”
His remarks come after pictures of an electric vehicle branded with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s face and electorate details surfaced online.
Labor wants 50 per cent of all new cars sold in Australia to be electric-powered by 2030.
Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten says the Coalition’s response to its plan is a scare campaign.
Australia is one of the few developed countries without carbon emissions standards for cars, and the Coalition has ruled out matching Labor’s pitch to introduce them.
Boosting the efficiency of cars could more drastically cut emissions pollution and save motorists hundreds of dollars a year on fuel, the Climate Change Authority says.
But PM Scott Morrison says families who rely on a bigger car or trade workers who use utes will be denied a choice under Labor, a claim Mr Shorten has dismissed as false.
AAP