Should Australia ban petrol cars?

I have some comments on the University of Sydney release: Should Australia ban petrol cars?

A necessary step towards a zero-carbon economy"

Britain has announced it will ban petrol and hybrid cars by 2035. University of Sydney experts comment on whether Australia can and should adopt a similar policy.

Move towards electric vehicles achievable in Australia

Professor David Levinson is an academic from the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Engineering who specialises in transport engineering and believes a similar move would be achievable if implemented in Australia.

“It is great to see Britain taking the lead on banning new internal combustion engine vehicles, which is essential to reduce pollution and carbon emissions. Electrification of the vehicle fleet is coming, as the technology for electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries steadily improves and costs drop with scale, and policy can accelerate the change," said Professor Levinson.

“It is expected that EVs will be less expensive to buy and operate in the next few years. Unfortunately, Australia has been unwilling to move aggressively on EVs, despite the almost unlimited sunshine providing the opportunity for truly inexpensive renewable power," he said.

“Cleaner vehicles will make cities smell nicer, less noisy, and overall more pleasant to be in.

“One issue that needs more attention is the charging infrastructure. While people with garages at home can install chargers, those living in multi-family housing and parking on-street will need convenient charging locations. As EVs get more widely deployed, cities will need to build more charging facilities, and petrol stations will need to adapt.”

There are some comments from other University of Sydney academics in the full article.

Toyota iRoad one-passenger concept cars, image courtesy Toyota.