The Roads Australia submission to the Commonwealth Government’s Electric Vehicle Strategy called on the government to develop a national transition strategy to ensure that the necessary changes in the energy and transport sectors are planned out together to deliver a rising tide of benefits and not be crushed by a tidal wave of change.
Overall, RA made 11 recommendations covering vehicles, energy and technology policy measures.
RA has been exploring this transition with governments, industry and connected parties over the last few years focussed on the realisation that to deliver a successful transition we need to facilitate the convergence of transport, energy and technology policy.
If EV sales exceed the pace of required changes to energy generation and supply, then there will be disgruntled EV customers whose negative sentiment risks slowing down take up in communities that are already harder to transition.
If the energy transition occurs before EV sales have increased sufficiently, then consumers will have to not only pay for petrol, diesel etc, but also through their electricity bills for the increased investment needed to support the expanded energy infrastructure.
The RA submission, and the work that preceded it can all be found here.