Greens push for solar-powered car boom in Victoria

2022-10-04

The Victorian Greens have released a bold Electric Vehicle Rapid Uptake Plan that would see electric vehicle owners supported to charge their EVs through their roof-top solar panels.

Under the plan Victorians with EVs would be given a subsidy for bi-directional chargers which would enable EV users to charge their car through their solar panels while using their EV’s battery to power their homes.

Transport is Victoria’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Victoria yet neither Labor or the Liberals have an adequate plan to tackle it.

In fact, just last year the Victorian Labor Government introduced a widely panned tax on electric vehicles creating yet another barrier to Victorians making the switch away from petrol-guzzling cars in favour of climate-friendly EVs.

Victorian Greens transport spokesperson, Sam Hibbins MP, said after November Victorians would be looking to the next Government to take the strong action needed to drive down our greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change.

He added that for too long Victoria had been a world laggard when it came to clean transport, but that the Greens’ plan could see the state become a world leader.

Under the Greens’ Electric Vehicle Rapid Uptake Plan, Labor’s electric vehicle tax would be abolished, while an eco-bonus of up to $15,000 would be offered to rapidly increase the uptake of electric vehicles in Victoria including a scrap-and-replace scheme targeted at low income owners of older, more polluting vehicles. 

The Greens would also put a 2030 timeline for the end of the sale of petrol cars and fund a massive rollout of EV chargers including in train station car parks and apartment blocks.

Quotes attributable to Victorian Greens transport spokesperson, Sam Hibbins MP: 

“Electric vehicles are essential to the clean energy revolution. 

“Bi-directional charging will allow people to use their car as a clean energy battery and help stabilise the grid as more rooftop solar is installed.

“Polluting cars and trucks are Victoria’s biggest growing source of emissions. Victoria needs to support people to rapidly make the shift away from polluting cars to clean, climate-friendly electric vehicles.

“Instead the Victorian Labor Government has put up yet another barrier with a new tax on electric vehicles."