The Labor opposition in Queensland has slammed the state LNP government over its decision to halt government funding in EV charging networks, despite the near doubling of electric car ownership in regional areas.
Opposition energy spokesman Lance McCallum also said that the LNP’s recent decision to scrap electric buses and to by 630 diesel buses instead was likely to cost more than $250 million, as well as lost jobs and other opportunities.
“In Queensland, the shift (to EVs) is running hardest where you might least expect it. It’s not inner city Brisbane. It’s in the regions,” McCallum said at the Smart Energy Council’s Queensland Energy Summit in Brisbane on Tuesday.
McCallum noted data that showed electric car ownership in the Western Downs region grew by almost 98%, in Gladstone by 76%, and in the Gold Coast by 47%.
“Regional Queensland is now taking up electric vehicles faster than the southeast corner,” he said. “Think about what that tells us. The people buying EVs in Queensland today are not in our inner city, they are farmers, tradies, and families in places like Chinchilla and Kingaroy, Rockhampton, who looked at fuel prices, looked at the numbers, and made a hard-headed economic decision.”
However, he said the programs that saw the rollout of the state’s electric superhighway – started in 2017 – has now been exhausted and the LNP government says there are no plans for further funding rounds. The LNP has also scrapped the transition of the government fleet to electric vehicles, and last week announced its decision to buy 630 diesel buses, instead of electric ones.
“It is a betrayal of Queensland taxpayers, and Queensland communities will be paying for this decision for years to come,” McCallum said.
“EV ownership in Queensland is growing at between 40 and 90% a year, but it’s sitting on top of a public charging program that has effectively stopped, and a government that is scrapping electric transport in favor of diesel. Talk about taking Queensland backwards.”Â
Queensland was one of the first to rollout fast-charging networks in regional areas, and its so-called Electric Superhighway was one of the first. But McCallum said it was nearly a decade old, and needed updating.
“Many (of the fast chargers) deliver 50 kilowatts, which was pretty respectable back in 2017, but these days it’s not that great when you consider that a new car, new EV, can accept six or seven times that.
“Back in 2017 we built the longest electric highway in the world, and the rest of the country followed us. But being first is not the same as staying ahead.
“Today we have the fastest-growing regional uptake of EVs in the nation, sitting on a charging network that has stopped growing because the government won’t invest and has an energy plan that takes away the storage and generation that those chargers will lean on and that consumers want.”
