Victoria continues to see healthy participation in its recently announced electric vehicle subsidy, the first of its kind in Australia, with registrations of interest crossing the 700 mark four weeks after the offering opened on May 2nd.
State Energy and Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said Tuesday that Solar Victoria received 709 interested registrations for the zero-emission vehicle subsidy in the first month of the program. By comparison, 436 new electric vehicles were purchased across the country in May, not including Tesla.
The ZRV subsidy, introduced by the Labor Andrews administration amid criticism of the proposed electric vehicle tax that comes into effect in July, offers a $ 3,000 discount on cars under $ 68,700.
The program aims to subsidize up to 20,000 purchases of zero-emission vehicles, although the size of the discount can be changed after the initial offer of 4,000 customers is completed.
And while the monthly number means a slowdown in adoption compared to 400 registrations in the first week of the program, 709 is an encouraging number compared to Australia’s poor track record of EV adoption. In Victoria, for example, total EV sales in 2019 were just over 800, not including Tesla cars.
“Zero-emission vehicles are the future in Victoria as we work to cut our emissions in half by 2030,” D’Ambrosio said in a comment on The Driven.
“That’s why we’re introducing $ 3,000 subsidies to get more ZEVs onto our roads to meet our goal of half of all new car sales being ZEVs by 2030.”
A slowdown in subsidy uptake could also reflect the small number of electric vehicles falling below the program’s price cap, though Stan Krpan, CEO of Solar Victoria, said the details of granting the discounts are still with manufacturers and dealers.
“The government was open to revising the program. Whether the value or the discount changes will be checked for the next tranche, ”said Krpan.
The Victoria government has also pledged to purchase 400 new electric vehicles to expand its fleet, and Krpan noted that Solar Victoria had installed charging points in its Morwell offices in anticipation of the new arrivals.