In a world that is looking for ways to cut carbon emissions, demand for electric vehicles in Australia continues to grow.
Austalia is looking to phase out petrol cars by 2030, so you're going to need a home solar system to cost-effectively charge your car in your garage.
Getting set up with a solar system helps you be future proofed, not only slashing your houshold energy bills, but also the running costs of your vehicles.
Demand for Electric Vehicles
It is believed that two thirds of Australians will own an electric car within the next decade, according to A Driving Australia Forward report. The paper funded by Jaguar cites the positive environmental outcomes, such as reduced use of fossil-fuels and increase of environmentally friendly resources, as the main reasons people are looking to go green-er. It claims that 84 per cent of Aussies would like to own an EV at some point in their life, with millennials believed to be most likely to purchase an EV.
While demand for electric vehicles increases, making our roads greener isn’t as easy as designing and selling cars with different engines. Electric vehicles require different infrastructure to petrol-powered cars, their range differs wildly and they require different charging stations, with different connections and varying amounts of time to recharge before cars can be back on the road.
Getting the charging infrastructure in place
The challenges facing the EV industry have historically involved the high cost for the development and manufacture of the vehicles (notably the batteries used to power them) as well as the cost to put the charging infrastructure in place. Yet state by state, those stations are now appearing and new and improved batteries are finding their ways into the new models. All of this is making a big difference.
Advancement in technologies and the decrease of costs have resulted in the use of EVs becoming more feasible, more desirable for car owners and this is helping to propel the move towards implementing nation-wide infrastructure to support the wider use of EVs. This move to electric vehicle technology would result in nationally significant fuel and maintenance cost savings as well as environmental benefits.
The Queensland Electric Super Highway is the world's longest electric super highway in a single state, with 31 fast-charging sites, whilst the RAC Electric Highway connects Western Australia. Sydney and Melbourne were the first major cities to be connected by an electric highway and is the most used. As of 2020, more than 60 public electric vehicle charging stations have been built around regional New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland in a bid to make electric cars a more practical option in regional Australia.
Cost effective electric and hybrid car manufacturing
But it’s not just the networks that are expanding at a fast rate. Manufacturers are racing to align themselves with the new EV market, producing everything from cheap and cheerful city commuters, to family SUVs and even luxury EVs. Pioneering manufacturers such as Telsa, Nissan, Renault and BMW have helped lead the R&D charge with the Model 3, Leaf, ZOE and i-series models respectively. Toyota, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Hyundai, and Honda all sell cost-effective hybrid electric vehicles.
Catering to the luxury end of the market, big brands have unveiled shiny new electric and hybrid alternatives to their famous gas-guzzling models. Porsche have released the Taycan, Mercedes-Benz the EQC and Audi the E-Tron Quattro. Even Aston Martin has dabbled with EVs care of the Rapide E concept car.
Countries themselves are also drawing a line in the sand when it comes to incentivising investment in electric vehicles, which is helping to nudge the more reluctant manufacturers into to adapting. Britain and France have both announced that from 2040 fossil-fuelled cars will no longer be available for purchase. In Paris, Mexico City and Athens they have stated that they will not allow diesel cars to enter the city from 2025.
Hybrid Vehicles
Many people are opting for hybrid vehicles, that are both petrol and electric. This solution overcomes the challenge of not enough electric charging stations currently set up around Australia. With a hybrid vehicle you can charge your car in your garage off your home solar system and use for trips less than 50kms, while only needing to use petrol for the longer trips where you're likely going to need to fill up along the way. Many hybrid owners have commented that they are able to run their car off the battery for a large majority of their driving.
Switching to electric or hybrid, doesn't need to be expensive, there's a range of affordable hybrid car options available in Australia from regular car manufacturers. When you're next looking to buy a car, chekc out their hybrid models.
A green and sustainable future
The support from local industry and government in Australia is essential to support the future use of Electric Vehicles. We need nationwide infrastructure that provides adequate charging stations, government funding which would allow cities to electrify their bus fleets, and updates to local policies and incentives to encourage others to build charging infrastructure. With these things in place, the world will benefit significantly thanks to reduced transport emissions, with Australian’s experiencing cost savings and environmental benefits across the country.
Contact our team to discuss how you can set yourself up to be future ready for electric vehicles.