The Marshall Government is allocating $18.3 million in the upcoming State Budget 2020-21 to jump-start the uptake of electric vehicles in South Australia.
“Consumers are saying there are two main barriers to electric vehicles which this policy will target – a lack of charging infrastructure and the availability of affordable models,” said Minister for Energy and Mining Dan van Holst Pellekaan.
“Headlining the Electric Vehicle Action Plan is the creation of a state-wide fast charging network where the public can plug in their electric vehicles.
“To accelerate the availability of new models, the State Government fleet will transition to electric vehicles within its existing budget, whilst calling on local government and corporate fleets to pledge similar.
“This will bring more models into South Australia and deliver a steady stream of affordable used electric vehicles after a few years of use in government and private fleets.
” The transition the State Government fleets will help accelerate public charging infrastructure in the City of Adelaide, at hospitals, schools and transport hubs.
“The State Government spends approximately $80 million on vehicles and fuel each year – and our new policy will progressively shift that spend to electric cars. Instead of $15 million each year spent on imported fuel, we’ll be buying local clean power instead.”
“As an added bonus, the faster uptake of electric vehicles is modelled to cut household power bills by around $50 by 2025 and $240 by 2030 as more users share the cost of the network.
“Electric vehicles will drive the next wave of power bill savings, whilst meeting our need for speed on climate change and improving air quality.
The Federal Government’s estimates that EVs will reach 8 per cent by 2025 and 27 per cent by 2030 of new passenger cars. This Action Plan is aiming to accelerate that, making electric vehicles the common choice for new passenger vehicles by 2030, and the default choice by 2035.
The Marshall Government is also investing $60 million in the next two years to improve energy efficiency in government buildings, creating hundreds of jobs and further cutting the taxpayers electricity bill.
“The $60 million commitment is the largest per capita stimulus investment of any Australian Government in improving the energy efficiency of public buildings and will lead to a significant reduction in emissions.
“The Home Battery Scheme is receiving an additional $18 million (to a total of $118 million) to supersize the largest per capita roll-out of home batteries in the world.
“The extra $18 million will result in the HBS reaching 440 megawatt hours of storage, a 50 per cent increase on the original target of 280 megawatts.
“Reaching that target will result in further downward pressure on household and small business electricity prices.
“We’d originally estimated 280 megawatt hours of home batteries, but with this top up we’re now aiming at 440 megawatts hours – an increase of more than 50%.
