Climate and Energy minister Chris Bowen will push for electric vehicle chargers to be installed in Parliament House in Canberra, so that he and the growing number of EV driving parliamentarians don’t have to rely on “trickle charging” from  power points in the car park.
Bowen and former labor leader and now NDIS and government services minister Bill Shorten are the first federal ministers to drive EVs, and there are several other Labor and Teal MPs that also drive EVs. And more, we are told, who are thinking about it.
Bowen drives his Tesla Model 3 regularly to Canberra from his home in Sydney, and says trickle charging is not a big issue if he is in Canberra for several days. But if he is on a one day trip, then he has to take time to go to the fast charging stations at the airport to get enough juice for the return trip.
“I’m waiting for a new Speaker to be elected. and then one of my first acts will be to write to the new Speaker and say, how about some EV chargers because there’s a few of us now,” Bowen tells the weekly Energy Insiders podcast on The Driven’s sister site RenewEconomy.
“At the moment, I drive my EV from Sydney to Canberra, which is great. IÂ trickle charge in the Parliament House car park and it is very slow, and it’s fine if I’m working around Canberra for a couple of days.
“But sometimes I drive to Canberra in the morning and want to drive back to Sydney at night. It’s no good and then I need to make some other arrangements. So we need some chargers at Parliament House.”
Bowen, of course, also has broader policies in mine, including an EV charger rollout that aims to ensure there is a fast charger every 150kms, and a 75 per cent share of EVs (or hydrogen fuel cell cars) in the government fleet by 2025, a move that will send a strong signal to EV importers and big car companies, and boost the second hand electric car market.
Labor has also eliminated import duties for some EVs, and Bowen says Labor is open to discussions about introducing vehicle emission standards, a development that most car makers say is essential to boost supply of EVs in Australia.
Currently, most car makers are forced to prioritise other markets to meet strict emissions targets, and Australia is at the end of the line for new EV allocations. Apart from Tesla, and the upcoming BYD, allocations for most EV models in Australia are in the hundreds, despite demand of ten times that amount, or even more.
“One of the things we will consider is emission standards,” Bowen told the Energy Insiders podcast.
“Now, emission standards are easy to say, the devil is in the design, and there’s emission standards and emission standards, and there’s a lot of detail work to go.
“You can have emission standards, which are set at the wrong baseline and you either not do anything or you’ll have unintended consequences. So it’s not as simple as saying Australia needs emission standards.
“We’ll consult very carefully and widely with manufacturers and everyone. And then we’ll have more to say, once we’ve done all that, all that due diligence and all that necessary and appropriate work. ”
Listen:Â Energy Insiders Podcast: Federal climate and energy minister Chris Bowen
Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of The Driven, and also edits and founded the Renew Economy and One Step Off The Grid web sites. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years, is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, and owns a Tesla Model 3.