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.
