Lax emissions standards and absence of sales incentives for electric vehicles (EV) risk Australia becoming a "dumping ground" for less desirable models and may mean the country won't catch up to its peers on such sales until the 2030s, according to clean energy research outfit BloombergNEF (BNEF).

Australia remains a laggard in the uptake of electric vehicles, which only made up 0.7 per cent of new car sales last year, said BNEF analyst Will Edmonds, while noting that was a record.