Knowledge@ASB: Electric Vehicles

Australia needs to speed up its drive for electric vehicles (EVs). Governments and capital markets widely appear to have accepted that the automobile’s future is electric. By 2012 all major carmakers are expected to have an EV model. Environmentalists and some institutions have embraced the idea in Australia, and the national capital, Canberra, looks set to be the first city to enable prevalent use of EVs. But some big questions remain over infrastructure, rising power costs and the affordability of going electric. Government investment may be required because Australia could be left behind if it waits for consumers to leap on the EV bandwagon.