RACQ urges financial incentives to encourage higher EV take-up

Blessed with lots of sunshine, Queensland is “perfect” for solar charging stations in workplaces and shopping centres to encourage more people to drive electric vehicles, the RACQ chief says.

The availability of charging stations and the cost associated with electric vehicles are the main concerns from Queenslanders about electric cars, according to an RACQ report.

RACQ chief David Carter said the government must be “ahead of the game” and provide charging stations before they were needed to ensure there was not a lack of availability.

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“That charging infrastructure needs to lead the cars,” he said.

“All our research shows that one of the biggest doubts in people’s minds at the moment in whether their electric car can be easily charged or not.

RACQ chief executive officer David Carter.

“Having those stations there will provide confidence for people who are thinking about buying an electric vehicle.”

He said that he expected price parity between electric cars and internal-combustion engine vehicles to be reached around the end of the decade, but that governments needed to provide financial incentives to encourage a higher take-up of electric vehicles.

“There will need to be government support in the initial stages where we should be looking at the potential for using solar energy in workplaces or shopping centres which have large carparks,” he said.

“Queensland is really a perfect place for such stations.

“There’s many hours of good sunshine, and plenty of places with room to have them.”