Electric car uptake in the ACT has jumped by almost 20 per cent in the two months since the Territory government began offering a two-year waiver of registration fees for new zero-emissions vehicles, taking it well past the 1,000 mark.
Data from the Access Canberra, and cited by the Australian EV Association, shows that between May 24 – the day the new policy came into play – and July 19, the number of battery electric vehicles registered increased from 967 to 1186, or by just over 18%. By July 26, this number had risen to 1202.
As The Driven has reported, the ACT government’s ZEV registration fee waiver was included in a governing agreement signed between the ACT Labor and ACT Greens parties following the last territory election.
In addition to the two-year waiver of registration fees, ACT drivers are also able to access up to $15,000 in interest free loans to help cover the upfront purchase cost of an electric vehicle.
The annual government registration fee for a passenger vehicle in the ACT ranges from $314.40 to $572.90, depending on the weight of the vehicle being registered.
EV drivers are still required to pay for a number of other charges, though, including compulsory third party insurance and other road safety tariffs.
The AEVA did not have a breakdown on which EVs made up the July numbers, but in April, Access Canberra reported a breakdown that lead with 422 Teslas, 132 Nissan Leafs, 121 Hyundais, and 15 each of MGs and Mitsubishis.
According to a report in the RiotACT, a Tesla Model 3 belonging to Peter McNeil was the 1,000th EV to be registered in the Territory, last month.
Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and deputy editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.