GET welcomes Opposition EV support, encourages charging infrastructure investment

Global Electric Transport (GET) has welcomed federal Labor Opposition measures to support sales of electric vehicles (EVs) but has encouraged greater commitment to investing in charging infrastructure that will be required to “fuel” this next generation of transportation in Australia.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese announced how an alternative Labor government would support the expansion of EVs in Australia, with exemptions on import levies and the Fringe Benefit Tax on EVs to encourage higher sales.

GET is a leading supplier and installer of EV charging stations for residential and commercial applications.

Executive Chairman and Founder Srecko Lorbek said GET welcomed any measure that would support the proliferation of EVs but that it was critical national infrastructure be quickly built for charging EVs.

“EV sales are expected to exponentially grow over the coming decade, but it will be driven by manufacturers taking their cue from governments and progressively phasing out of the traditional combustible engine car or truck,” he said.

“We are already seeing this with General Motors, Ford, Jaguar, Volvo, Aston Martin, McLaren, Maserati, and other leading manufacturers bringing forward plans to end petrol and diesel car production with new model EVs being released every week.

“If our state and federal governments don’t act NOW we risk having a larger fleet of EVs on the roads but not the critical charging infrastructure to support it. So, in addition to policy that encourages sales of EVs, we need bigger investments in chargers at residences, businesses, carparks and commercial and residential buildings – basically any place where people park.”

Lorbek said EV drivers of the future would behave differently when it comes to “fuelling” their cars because the days of filling the tank at the petrol station would be a thing of the past.

“The EV driver mindset will shift away from the once a week fill up to keeping the battery topped up every day,” Lorbek said.

“To support this, we need chargers where people work, live, shop, eat and exercise and the technology exists to achieve this, but we need to start planning for it now as Australia and the world shifts towards EVs. GET has simple and affordable charging solutions that can help policymakers and legislators plan for this now.”

Just last week GET launched a Commercial EV Charging Hub in Port Melbourne in response to a shortage of chargers in a rapidly growing part of Melbourne, and the growing market of EV drivers. Australian EV sales have doubled so far in 2021 with February data reporting 558 EV sales in January and February, up 105.1% on the same period last year, excluding Tesla sales which aren’t included in official data.