The Victorian Government has a goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. To achieve that, major sectors in the state that contribute to emissions are being investigated for opportunities to clean them up.
In a draft report released today, Infrastructure Victoria has released 21 recommendations to the Victorian Government. These recommendations specifically relate to accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles, with the transport sector being responsible for a significant portion of CO2 emissions in the state. These recommendations come as a result of a community panel earlier this year.
“Victoria will not reach its emissions reduction targets with continued reliance on petrol and diesel vehicles. How should the Victorian Government support more people to adopt low or zero-emissions vehicles sooner?”
Earlier this year, I participated in the community consultation process as one of 211 Victorians, made up of different age groups, postcodes, genders, incomes and housing types. There was also a great mix of EV owners and non-EV owners who contributed to the recommendations after 5 weeks of workshops.
The full 21 recommendations are listed below, let us know in the comments what you think and if the Government should adopt all, or some of these incentives.
- Advocate to local governments to change their fleets to electric vehicles.
- Create a state-wide charging network strategy.
- Deliver a broad community awareness and education campaign.
- Establish Vehicle Emissions Standards.
- Introduce planning controls that require new developments to install charging infrastructure.
- Provide financial incentives to individuals to support the initial transition to low or zero emissions vehicles.
- Support the installation of electric vehicle charging point as part of the ‘Solar Homes Program’.
- Provide electric vehicle charging stations at activity and town centres.
- Advocate to the private sector to lease low or zero emissions vehicles to employees.
- Introduce planning controls that require electric vehicle charging infrastructure in new car parks.
- Support the integration of energy capture through solar panels and storage in batteries.
- Provide incentives for taxis, rideshare vehicles and courier vehicles to use low or zero emissions vehicles.
- Provide subsidies to reduce the cost of installing home charging infrastructure.
- Build professional and business knowledge to instil zero-emission workforce and commerce.
- Introduce a Vehicle Emissions Scheme.
- End the sale of new internal combustion engine vehicles by 2030.
- Introduce a means tested loan scheme for purchasing low or zero emissions vehicles.
- Create an independent vehicle cost comparison website.
- Create a trade-in scheme for internal combustion engine vehicles.
- Mandate a standardised charging connector for use across Victoria.
- Undertake community engagement to inform the strategic planning of electric and hydrogen vehicle infrastructure.
In light of what’s just been proposed by the Biden administration in the US ($100 billion in rebates), these recommendations seem pretty tame. These could be bolstered if a number of states got together and aligned on a strategy to move this forward given the lack of a federal plan.
- If there were only zero emission vehicles on Victorian roads, it would eliminate around 27 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by 2046 and deliver over $706 million in health benefits to Victorians in the same year
- Victoria has experienced an 18.4% increase in emissions from cars since 1990
- By 2051, more than 30 million transport trips are expected to occur in Victoria with 90% of them made by private vehicle
From here, the reviewed recommendations will inform Infrastructure Victoria’s advice – to support the broader community to take up zero or low emissions vehicles sooner – to government in Victoria’s 30-year infrastructure strategy.
This 30-year infrastructure strategy is planned to be released and tabled in the Victorian Parliament in mid-2021.
