An old adage is the more you drive the more you save. BEV’s are particularly energy efficient, especially around town in traffic. 20kW for 100km at the lesser end of performance. At 30c per kWh for electricity, less off peak or on solar, that’s around $6 or less to go 100km. The same with fossil fuel might need 7-15 litres of fuel at more than twice the cost.
None of my Grand Parents owned a car or ever drove. It’s likely none of my Grand Children will ever know the smell of a car powered by fossil fuels. We are well on the way to the second of these visions.
Many people struggle to buy or finance any roadworthy vehicle. Upfront costs would make owning a vehicle out of reach so savings in running costs are academic to that demographic. [Marie Antoinette and] a few pollies or activists not personally affected might respond ‘Let them use bikes’ or ‘public transport is good enough’ even when there is none.
The transition will necessarily be slow no matter how hard pushed by government or financing companies unless they introduce a HECS-like program so nobody (unrealistic) gets ‘left behind’.
Once there is a good supply of decent BEVs at ICE price points on the used market the paradigm will shift.
The VW boss for Australia said the industry only need mandatory fuel efficiency requirements to bring cheaper models to Australia. He said they had them but while we had no requirement to meet fuel efficiency requirements they would not be made available here.
“Car manufacturers say that has made it difficult to sell their best vehicles in Australia, which require better quality fuel.
Volkswagen Australia’s managing director, Paul Sansom, said mandated fuel standards would eventually reduce the price of electric vehicles.
“There is a lack of choice in the market at the moment and that is largely due to the lack of mandated standards,” Mr Sansom said.
"Manufacturers will send products to markets where there are such standards with quite punitive penalties for not achieving them.
"The headquarters are sending [vehicles] that are in high demand to places like Europe and America, rather than Australia as there is no consequence for hitting a lower standard here.”
Why this makes it more difficult to bring them here has me confused. There are also linked stories stating Australian motorists would have saved several billion dollars in fuel costs if we had better fuel efficiency standards in place since 2015.
Corporate executives and their accountants have the overarching goal of maximising shareholder value, not engaging in competitive fights they can avoid.
Bringing in the best to a market that does not mandate it, including effects of our dirty (high sulphur) fuel even on requiring euro 6, would make a more sophisticated BEV or ICE product more expensive and thus more difficult to sell against cheaper alternatives in the market, hence the underlying issue is probably P&L related.
The actual live interview which is only lightly touched in the quote was what I would term full of contradictory statements. I don’t know if it can be retrieved, but may be worthwhile watching if one has the time and it can be found.
He said they (all car manufacturers not just VW group) had many cheaper EV models but that only once we had higher fuel standards would those cheaper models be directed here, currently they were sent to markets that had higher standards and it only needed that change for them to be directed here. They had them on the production lines, only they were sold to markets that had the “demand”. He also stated that one in two Australian drivers wanted EV, hydrogen fuelled and similar vehicles. It would seem the demand exists but no one wants to send them here until punitive measures are in place to force it.
Possibly not. The standards are about the average fleet fuel use rather than specific vehicles. As outlined in the article, if Australia consumers chose to purchase higher fuel use vehicles (which they do as they have an appetite for utes, 4WDs and SUVs), a manufacturer has to try to offset the sale of these higher fuel use vehicles by selling lower fuel/use emission vehicles.
The vehicles we receive in Australia are no different to those supplies to other markets. The difference being that that Australian’s consumer vehicle purchases isn’t currently restricted by fleet efficiency standards. What could happen is if efficiency standards are introduces, car manufacturers may introduce quotas on the number and types of vehicles that import so that they don’t exceed the standard. This may mean that a consumer no longer has a ‘free’ choice into what vehicles they can purchase, as available vehicles will be dictated by what the manufacturer choses to import.
What is likely to happen is that when the ‘free’ choice is removed, consumers will opt for purchasing or maintaining existing vehicles which meet the needs of the consumer. This has been demonstrated by current supply issues where many consumer are choosing to buy a second hand vehicle of the make and model in question, in preference waiting many months (more than a year) to get a new vehicle. When this occurs, there will not be any saving as outlined by the Australia Institute…costs could increase as older less efficient ICE vehicles are retained within Australia’s fleet.
The other potential outcome is that new ICE vehicles under a efficiency standard become more expensive to encourage consumer to purchase EVs. The flow on effect is this will have a significant effect on the price of second hand vehicles for the same reasons outlined above. This will also make it more difficult for those who need their own private transport to purchase the private transport they need…and obtain the financing required for the purchases (those with lower incomes who often live in more affordable areas devoid of adequate public transport systems).
That is a succinct description of how and why such standards are enacted - to ‘guide’ the market toward a particular end, in that case better overall fuel efficiency.
Given ‘free choice’ consumers will often opt for their personal convenience, wants, and ‘gloss’ at the expense of the environment or their communities especially if adding incremental costs or inconvenience. Sometimes there are surprises such as animal welfare where consumers are driving an industry toward free range despite higher costs, but that seems an exception.
It is complex and relying on the market to solve societal or environmental problems has not usually been an overwhelming success. Without economy standards the manufacturers might still be selling ICE with 25l/100km or worse as the norm.
A perennial problem within our society and globally.
There are also those in the community for which this is not such a concern. Justifications for choosing a BEV can include meeting economic needs, as a statement of wealth or simply demonstrating environmental values.
One point of discussion is for those in the community likely to make that decision. Without early adopters (which many say Australians are) there will be zero transition with Australia risking being left even further behind. That applies to both the uptake and development of the technical skills required for a more electrified future.
Acknowledgement of the social equity and financial implications is also a worthwhile discussion. How we transition, and how Australia takes all to the same endpoint remains to be sorted by our various levels of government and leadership. It would seem a very different topic from one that looks to the current market place and how consumers approach matching what is available to their needs or aspirations, if they are able to make the choice for a BEV.
P.S.
It remains self evident that many Australian’s purchase high value brand new ICE vehicles based on anything other than meeting any demonstrable practical daily or economic needs. On that basis for now should those with less ability to make a BEV be concerned about the choices those with larger budgets make? One choice moves us all closer to a lower carbon future. The other is more likely to divide a community now more firmly focussed on the future of our environment.
Australia’s GHG emissions are several times greater than those directly due to personal motor vehicle use or household electricity and gas consumption. A more detailed discussion of those impacts belongs in a different topic IMHO!
BYD’s entry to the Australia car market was announced early this year. For those looking at the entry level BEV options there is now at least one local Australian motoring review of the BYD Atto 3.
It’s useful to have meaningful assessments when also considering the two similar priced Nissan Leaf and MG ZS EV’s which are well established. Lack of availability of any of the BEV’s currently offered in the Aussie market remains a deciding factor for those ready to purchase,
P.S. added link to a direct review and comparison.
An interesting stat is ‘Public chargers increased from 3,413 in 2021 to 4,943 in 2022, with fast chargers up from 231 to 365 in the same period.’ The unit seems to be ‘charger’ not ‘charging stations’ (ie multiple chargers). While a few months dated this article tallied the numbers of chargers and the number of locations.
A useful guide to the current (all electric) BEV choices that made it into the Aussie market in 2022.
27 different models made it into the market, a significant change since 2017 when sales totalled approx 2600 vehicles. (Tesla 1410 est + others 1189)
Tesla sold 19,594 vehicles across 2 models to hold approx 60% of the sales.
There is an increasing range of alternate brands and models with the Hyundai and Kia family achieving 3,154 sales. Mercedes, BMW along side more affordable brands MG and BYD also reported well over 1000 sales for the year.
A different market with greater volume than ours and a substantially different marketing and regulatory game but illustrative of how pricing and government policies affect BEV takeup.
$USD43,000 is roughly $AUD61,000 while our typical new purchase has risen to $50,000. Americans mainly buy large and very large SUVs while many of us still prefer ‘cars’ that partly accounts for the difference in ‘average’.
