Grim car sale figures reveal why Australia won’t hit emission milestone

The lastest electric car sale figures reveal a grim outlook for Australia’s future.

Australia will need to put the pedal to the metal if it is to cling to any hope of reaching its ambitious electric vehicle milestones, new evidence has revealed.

New data from the Electric Vehicle Council shows the country is on track to fall short of its emission reduction targets.

While the country will soon pass its 100,000 electric vehicle (EV) milestone, with more than 83,000 already on our roads, our 1m by 2027 target is already slipping from view.

The Australian Electric Vehicle Industry Recap 2022 report also notes that the number of EVs purchased increased by 86 per cent in the last year, with 3.8 per cent of all new cars purchased being electric. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

Electric Vehicle Council Chief Executive Behyad Jafari has warned this sad loss of momentum is being fuelled by consumer complacency.

“If you think you’re seeing more EVs on the road than you used to, you’re right, but if we want to hit our national emissions targets we won’t make it on this current trajectory,” he said.

Mr Jafari believes EVs have a crucial role to play in reaching the federal government’s emission target, which would require Australia to have a near-zero-emission vehicle fleet by 2050.

The Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen on September 28 2022 launching the Albanese Government's National Electric Vehicle Strategy Consultation Paper at a press conference in Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

As a result, he is calling for the federal government to introduce an ambitious fuel efficiency standard this year to urgently expand the supply of EVs to Australia.

“Australians are early adaptors by nature, we care about our environment, and we don’t want to rely on foreign oil,” he said.

“There is no reason for us to continue to lag the world on EV take up.

“The enthusiasm is there in abundance, we just need our governments to continue the policy reform that makes it easy to transition away from the exhaust pipe.”

Only 44,000 EVs were in circulation at the beginning of 2022.