Accelerating Australia’s Transition to Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles now outnumber internal combustion engine cars for the first time ever in Norway, making the Scandinavian country the first in the world with a passenger car fleet dominated by electric cars.

By next year, the country is aiming for all new cars sold to be zero emissions, an impressive ten years of the EU’s target. Let’s quickly examine how Norway achieved this milestone. Norwegian EV owners not only receive a 50% reduction in road taxes, ferry and parking fees, but an additional exemption from registration costs. 

Whilst we’re not seeing the same speed of uptake in Australia, electric vehicles sales doubled between 2022 and 2023, and it is estimated that there are now 180,000 EVs on Australian roads.  

What will it take to get more Australians into EVs? 

Misinformation is consistently cited as one of the key barriers to EV uptake within Australia. 

Let’s take the risk of EV fires as an example. Statistically, the risk of an electric vehicle catching alight is lower than a conventional car, but a recent report suggest that 44% of Australians view this as a concern. It’s clear that increasing education around electric vehicle technology will be integral to spearheading EV adoption. 

The high purchase cost of an EV is another concern preventing more Australians from converting to electric vehicles. However, luckily more affordable models are becoming available over time, and 58% of Australians are open to purchasing second hand.  

There’s no denying Australia’s love affair with utes and larger SUVs, and their off-roading capacity and overall practicality is aligned with our outdoorsy culture. By the end of 2025, six electric and hybrid utes should be on Australian roads, with more on the horizon. 

When will electric vehicles be the majority on Australia roads? 

Notably, the ACT became the first Australian jurisdiction to pass 20% of all new vehicles sold being EVs in 2023, largely accredited to the state government’s strong leadership on EV policy. The precedent set by Norway highlights the importance of government leadership to incentivize the transition from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles. It’s great to see that the Australian Government has committed to a net zero public service by 2030, with Commonwealth fleet new passenger purchases 75% low emissions by 2025. Recent research published by the CSIRO suggests that if Australia takes a rapid decarbonization pathway, 97% of light passenger vehicles would be electric by 2050.  

We’re optimistic that EV growth will drastically accelerate within Australia in the next few years, ahead of 2050 targets. 

“The fleet market is key to transitioning to electric for Australia to meet EV targets,” Chris Crossman, EVOS CTO, explained.  

“EVOS is creating the technology to help fleets transition to electric by simplifying the charging process and focusing on technology that reduces the cost of energy. By maximising the benefits of electric vehicles, we believe we can expedite the transition.” 

If you have any questions about how EVOS can assist with your transition to electric vehicles, reach out to our friendly sales team at sayhi@evos.com.au