Electric vehicle descrimination

[glend]

Why is it that Australia is so far behind in relation to electric vehicle choice? There are literally hundreds of small electric cars being sold all around the world, often through online dealers, yet none of these is available in Australia. Sure many of these micro electrics would not conform to Australian Design Rules, but in many cases buyers would not be seeking to use these vehicles on the M1 in rush hour. There needs to be another class of vehicles that fills the niche for local shopping, or commuting in your area.
I recently looked at trying to find one of these small electrics, as a private import, but it seems registration would be banned, at least in NSW. Some of these vehicles are built by established traditional manufacturers.
The Renault Twizzy has been around in Europe for a decade, but has no chance in Australia. You can probably get a grey import of a used one, but the costs would make it prohibitive. There are all sort of Grey Imports from Japan running around, and they are all petrol or diesel powered.
Ebikes and larger seated enclosed Scooters are another category where we lose out. There is pretty much one variant of ebikes sold here, a pedal assist low Watt variety. The ebikes market is huge in Europe and Asia.
Why can we not break through on these efficient personal vehicles?

[AndyG]

Absolutely agree with you Glen.
To reply in greater detail would be a TOSbender. (I just made that word up).
Good day to you Sir :)

[julianh72]

EDIT - deleted - not relevant

[glend]

I have located a document that sets out the present gov't and compliance process to import an EV, here:

https://www.drivezero.com.au/cars/policy-adoption-history/australian-guide-to-importing-an-electric-vehicle/

Unfortunately, it is aimed at importation of a manufacturers EV, that has been sold in overseas markets for at least 18 months, and then you need a local automotive compliance agency to certify it ($$$$) - as if most of these micro EV's would comply.

[mswhin63]

Really good article, although is a bit old (October 2018). It appears that the Bill to amend the legislation has been passed (November 2019), so the circumstances have changed. I am not really interested in importing a vehicle so I don't know how to navigate the site, so I suppose best left to the professional importers.

[billdan]

You can get your own car converted to Electric.

This website linked can do the conversion for you, but the cost is high $30K for a small Mini or VW or $40K for larger 4WD vehicles.

https://www.evolutionaustralia.com.au/electric-classic-car-conversions

100 plus years ago, the first Model T Fords were all battery driven (lead acid) but they were inefficient and petrol engines were used 5 years later.
If battery technology was better back then, petrol engines may never have taken off.

[mura_gadi]

Hello,

Pricing - we're not a country that overly encourages a move away from fossil fuels, or offers subsidies or non-fossil fuel based policies. Unlike the majority of the developed world where there are such policies.

But, we don't have a car industry anymore, and most of our major overseas car markets are moving to EV's (only) very rapidly now.

So, you looking at some of the last combustion engines anyway, maybe not "kids born today won't see one", but its getting pretty close.



Steve

[Stonius]

In short, the fossil fuel lobby.

[glend]

Have you noticed how expensive petrol is now? Probably not coincidental that wide spread lock downs, virtually nill car traffic on major roads, etc has impacted the volume of petrol being sold - hence let's just jack up the price to maintain our profit margins off A declining volume.
I still have petrol in my car tank that I bought in Brisbane back in late June. I am mostly using my ebike for local shopping now.

[bojan]

I still have petrol in my other car from June last year.. I should have sold that car I guess...

[traveller]

https://youtu.be/fLflYkgnNBY
You can only laugh or you’d cry.

[glend]

Love it Bo. We need to crowd fund the purchase of advertising time so it can be shared with the public more widely.