AN ambitious target of seeing all new cars sold in Australia by 2030 being electric is the centre piece of a Greens Federal Election policy announced in Ballarat on Monday.
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But for it to be achievable, local council, state and federal governments and private enterprise need to work together to make sure there enough charging stations are available around the country as more and more electric cars come onto the market.
The Greens policy will be to spend $150 million on fast charging infrastructure across Australia which it wants to be matched by state and local council contributions and by the big business that produce electric vehicles much in the way Tesla has.
Senator Janet Rice, who took a Tesla ride to Ballarat on Monday, said right now electric vehicles were not being supported across the country.
"We want cities like Ballarat and towns all across regional Australia to be part of the electrical revolution," Ms Rice said.
"In order to do that, we need to have fast chargers all the way across the country.
"Here we are at the Tesla fast charging station, but that's only for Tesla's, and right now the closest charger to Ballarat is in Brunswick.
"We were looking at other electric vehicles we were hoping to drive up from Melbourne, but the older ones only have a range of 100km, we wouldn't have made it. The Tesla has a range of 300km, but right now it is cost prohibitive to the majority of people."
In October last year, the state government announced it would invest $2 million to build more ultra-rapid electric vehicle chargers in Victoria, including at least two in Ballarat.
Built by Australian start-up Chargefox, the charger station is expected to be installed by the end of the year.
It will add to the current charger at Sovereign Hill, and Tesla superchargers at Wendouree, opened in March last year. A network of "destination" Tesla chargers operate in the district, including in Creswick and Daylesford.
Communities around Ballarat, including Buninyong, have called for chargers to be installed in their towns.
Ms Rice said a total of $300 million would be needed to install 3000 charger points around Australia, at a cost of about $100,000 each. They plan to fund half with the hope that private enterprise, councils and state government will work together to fund the rest.
"If Australia is serious about our Paris climate commitments and reaching net-zero emissions by 2040, we must transform how we transport people and goods," Ms Rice said.
"Around the world, countries are announcing phase out dates for the sale of new internal combustion engine cars, including Norway (2025), Denmark (2030), the Netherlands (2030), the United Kingdom (2040) and France (2040).
"The Greens want Australia to join these nations by ensuring that all new car sales are electric vehicles from 2030."
Ms Rice said it was hoped prices would come down. Right now, a top of the range Tesla can cost more than $120,000.
She said The Greens would remove import tariffs, GST and stamp and registration duty on all new electric vehicles and wave registration fees for the first three years of electric vehicle ownership as a way of reducing the costs.
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