Another little bonus for EV owners in New South Wales is to remain for a while – being able to drive their electric cars solo in transit lanes.
NSW Treasurer and Minister for Energy Matt Kean announced yesterday electric vehicles will be permitted to drive in transit lanes until 31 October 2023.
“Allowing EVs to drive in transit lanes builds on other initiatives from the Perrottet Government to incentivise uptake including rebates, phasing out stamp duty and building a world-class charging network to support these vehicles,” said Minister Kean. “Through these initiatives, we have seen an 84 per cent increase in EVs in NSW since last year, the fastest growth in Australia, and we are confident this trend will continue.”
Fully electric and hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles were originally given access to T2 and T3 transit lanes1 starting in November last year.
EV Incentives In New South Wales
The NSW Government has set a goal of electric vehicles comprising more than 50% of all car sales by 2030-31. Currently the proportion is around the 3.7% mark, which doesn’t seem much but is a big jump on previous years and a sign of things to come.
The State Government is currently offering $3,000 rebates for the first 25,000 new battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles with a dutiable value of less than $68,750. How many of these rebates have already been taken up isn’t clear. The Government’s EV strategy dashboard, which hasn’t been updated since the end of March this year, indicated 2,177 rebates had been paid at that point.
Along with the abolition of stamp duty, the NSW Government says eligible EV purchasers can save up to $5,540.
By the way, to see what EV incentives are on offer in other states and territories, check out SolarQuotes’ rebates and subsidies page – which of course also provides summaries of what’s available for solar power and home battery systems. Home solar + an EV = huge savings, both in terms of running costs and emissions reductions.
NSW Government’s EV Strategy
The rebate and stamp duty relief are just a couple of aspects of the Perrottet Government’s EV Strategy. Among the other elements:
- Transitioning the NSW Government passenger fleet to electric vehicles by 2030.
- Investing $171 million to build a road network of ultra-fast EV charging stations.
Last month Minister Kean announced the rollout of more than 500 fast and ultra-fast chargers over the next two years, which will be situated at 86 new EV charging stations in Sydney and across regional NSW. Each of these stations will boast at least two 350kW ultra-fast EV chargers and two 175kW fast charging bays.
Given New South Wales is still very dependent on black coal for power generation2, another plus is these charging stations will be fully powered with renewable energy.
This was the first of an expected three funding rounds for EV charger infrastructure in New South Wales, which will ultimately see 250 new fast/ ultra-fast charging stations in total across the state.
Footnotes
- Transit lanes can be used by vehicles containing a minimum number of people at certain times of the day. T2 = minimum of 2 people, T3 = minimum of 3. There are some exceptions (aside from electric vehicles). ↩
- Coal power represented ~63% of overall electricity consumption in NSW the last 12 months – Source: OpenNEM. ↩
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This is good news for NSW electric vehicle owners, as it not only benefits current owners but may be the nudge toward EVs that prospective buyers are looking for. More changes like these are all for the best.