True lies about green car sales in Australia
The car industry says there’s been an explosion in new electric and hybrid vehicle sales. But is this true when they can’t even get the story straight? Here are the facts about how many EVs Australia is actually buying and who’s behind these bogus claims…
A brilliant new report from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries made me laugh. It also made me cry, and it actually taught me six things which I will impart with you, then we’ll dissect the details.
The latest public relations attempt by the FCAI was, seemingly, an effort to paint some rosy picture of growth in electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, in Australia.
You can download the botched EV sales faux-brochure, which calls itself a ‘report’, to see for yourself.
But they way in which they’ve tried to illustrate this - and hoping nobody would notice - should reinforce to you, as a consumer, that in every word they publish and every piece of data they try to convince you with, lobby groups are to be treated with caution.
Download the FCAI’s 2022 Zero & Low Emission Vehicle Report >> to follow along with the video report above.
This so-called report is the car industry trying to sell to consumers like you, via their mates in the mainstream motoring media, that growth is increasing in electric-powertrain vehicles, which it wants you to confuse with old-tech, tiny-battery ‘hybrids’.
See, if you think ordinary hybrids are considered green cars, you’re more likely to buy one, especially the ordinary public who hears the word hybrid and thinks ‘green car’ or ‘eco car’.
Except they’ve tried to not only be clever in telling you what the FCAI says is classified as an ‘EV’, but they also want you to think you should buy more of them because everyone else is. Except when you look at the sales data, that’s not the full story. The FCAI’s own glossary of terms conflicts with statements made about tiny-battery hybrids - the kind Toyota and Nissan sells.
Here are the six summary points you need to understand about this report:
First: The FCAI appears to be incompetent, scientifically illiterate and innumerate. In truth. I already had my suspicions there.
Second: Without Tesla, EV sales in Australia are nowhere.
Third: Governments at federal, state and local government levels are completely full of shit when it comes to their green vehicle rhetoric, because they have failed spectacularly to put their money - meaning our money - where their mouths are.
Fourth: Toyota owns the hybrid market with its outdated nickel-metal hydride battery tech. Hence Toyota’s the king of mediocrity. But the FCAI is merely trying to misconstrue these hybrids as bone fide EVs or PHEVs, which they emphatically are not.
Fifth: It's going to be at least three decades until hydrogen gets even a foothold in this country. It is so nowhere, despite Australia having all of the fundamental prerequisites to become, almost immediately, a global hydrogen superpower - should we so develop the political will; instead of course we're just approving endless new coal and gas projects.
And sixth: Australian eco-car consumers have overlooked spectacularly the most logical powertrain option on the table for them, in 2022.
For the full explanation of each of these salient factors, watch the full video report above. This is important if you’re considering shopping for an EV or plug-in in 2023 or 2024.
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