“Luddite:” Minister barred from prime chance to ride in electric truck to parliament

A prime chance to showcase electric mobility’s potential to shore up Australia’s fuel security was nearly scuppered on Friday, when the Coalition’s assistant transport minister Scott Buchholz was barred by the prime minster’s office from attending, a group that aims to promote electric vehicle manufacturing in Australia said on Monday.

The place in the cabin alongside Janus general manager Lex Forsyth will now instead be taken by South Australian independent senator Rex Patrick, who says Buchholoz’s withdrawal is another example of the “absolute luddite attitude from the prime minister” towards electric vehicles.

EMMA, which stands for Electric Mobility Manufacturers Australia, says it had secured the involvement of Buchholz in a plan to ride in an electric Freightliner Coronado converted by Janus Electric on Tuesday morning, but says that the assistant minister subsequently withdrew, citing budget week restrictions.

EMMA’s trip to parliament on Tuesday morning aims to highlight the fact that an electric vehicle transition can play an important role in many industries. This includes long haul transport being spearheaded by Janus Electric – which plans to use battery swap technology to make long haul travel by battery-powered prime movers as simple as refuelling.

Spokeperson for EMMA Greg McGarvie said the group is “perplexed” at what it understands as a barring by the Prime Minister‘s office.

“Scott Buchholz was excited by the prospect of driving  Australia’s first Janus Electric Prime Mover,” McGarvie said. “This heavy duty electric vehicle is an exceptional example of Australian ingenuity.”

Janus has partnered with logistics company Qube and mining giant Oz Minerals to trial its electric prime mover with battery swap plans along some of Australia’s harshest routes.

It also has plans to install battery swap stations from Sydney to Brisbane and says that the cost of powering long haul transport using battery-electric prime movers is far less than in a diesel truck.

Senator Patrick tells The Driven that he’s also excited about the prospect of taking a ride in the Janus prime mover on Tuesday morning.

“I’m particularly interested in the concept of a prime mover,” says Patrick, “particularly noting the PM told me electric vehicles wouldn’t tow a caravan.”

“But really it is the future and it is private industry showing how far ahead they are of government – it’s a credit and also a shame.”

With fuel prices skyrocketing, Patrick has been campaigning for a temporary reduction of fuel excise to alleviate the fiscal pressures on families as the Ukraine crisis pushes the price of oil towards and beyond $100/barrel.

While that plan has been met with some criticism – experts say that reducing fuel excise could in fact undermine a long term plan to decarbonise Australia’s transport sector – Patrick says he also supports the role that electric mobility has to play and the Coalition should be doing more.

“One of the difficulties of the government’s lack of commitment to electric vehicles is if they were to make a decision for no ICE vehicle (sales) after 2030  then we would find that building codes would change,” he says.

McGarvie, whose company ACE-EV has long-standing plans to build electric cars, utes and vans in Australia, says that, “Electric vehicle operating costs by contrast up to 80% less costly $10 a fortnight compared to $90 with fuel for a car. In trucking it is around $180 dollars for a 600 km trip.”

A national federal strategy for electric vehicles was promised for mid-2020 and still has not manifested. Instead, a “future fuels strategy” in which EVs did not rate a mention was issued by the minister for energy and emissions reduction Angus Taylor’s office in 2021.

With a federal budget about to be released this week and a national election looking in May, Patrick doubts there will be any new announcements to support a transition to electric vehicles. “If we see something in the budget it will ad hoc,” he says.

The Janus prime mover is scheduled to visit parliament house on Tuesday morning.