The NSW Government released its NSW Electric Vehicle Strategy last year. The strategy incorporates six strategic actions that are designed to increase EV sales in NSW to 52% of all new passenger cars sold in 2030-31, thereby supporting the State Government’s broader objective of achieving net-zero emissions by 2030. These six actions, include:
- Rebates for EV purchases: Government rebates of $3000 are available to purchasers of the first 25,000 vehicles sold after 1 September 2021. Eligible vehicles are EV’s sold for less than $68,750 (i.e. excludes the luxury vehicle class).
- Phase out stamp duty on EV purchases: Stamp duty is no longer payable for new EV’s with a purchase price of less than $78,000 and will be phased out for all EV’s (regardless of price) from 1 July 2027 or when EV sales make up at least 30% of new car sales – whichever comes first.
- Fleet incentives for businesses and local councils: The Government is currently offering financial incentives to support medium-sized business and local council fleets to purchase EVs. These incentives are offered on a ‘reverse auction’ process.
- Priority access for EVs in Greater Sydney: This strategy involves changes to Motor Traffic Laws to allow EVs to travel in T2 (2 person) and T3 (3 person) Transit Lanes in Sydney for a defined period.
- Investing in a world-class EV charging network across the state: The Government has allocated $171M over the next four years to support businesses (i.e. cofounded basis) deliver new EV charging infrastructure.
- Promotion of EV connected Regions: The NSW Government is co-investing with the private sector to establish ultra-fast EV Chargers at 100km intervals across all major NSW Highways.
Earlier this week, the NSW Government released Guidelines for the first round of its EV Fast Charging Grants Program. This program has been designed to accommodate two of the above strategic actions (i.e. No. 5 and 6) via the co-funding of EV Charging infrastructure in urban and regional areas across NSW.
These Guidelines can be found at: Drive_electric_NSW_EV fast_charging_grants-round_one-guidelines and contain a comprehensive description of the program, grant eligibility criteria and links to submission templates.
“This is a significant program and appears to provide meaningful fund to fuel businesses that may be considering the installation of EV fast Charging infrastructure in the next 1-2 years”, said ACAPMA CEO Mark McKenzie.
The Grants will be offered under the umbrella of a two-stage application process. The first stage (which will formally commence on 2 February 2022 and conclude in mid-June 2022) will require businesses to submit an expression of interest demonstrating eligibility and providing basic site details.
“In the event that a business satisfies the requirements of Stage 1, they will then be invited to submit a more detailed application – including project costs – as part of the second stage of the grant process,” added Mark.
Importantly, businesses must be able to demonstrate that they can fund at least 50% of the total project capital cost (including design and construction services). Individual applications are capped at a maximum of $15M in government funding (i.e. total project cost of $30M) across multiple locations.
Grants will be considered on a competitive basis with applicants required to demonstrate both merit and value for money, including provision of ultra-fast charging infrastructure in regional areas.
ACAPMA is currently liaising with relevant officers in the NSW Department of Environment and Planning to explore the possibility of organising an information webinar for members, allowing members to ask questions about the program. ACAPMA is also investigating options for the ACAPMA Secretariat to support interested members in the preparation of a grant application.
Further information will be provided to members on this event, in the next week or two.
Published with permission from ACAPMA.
Source: https://acapmag.com.au/2022/01/ev-fast-charging-infrastructure-grants-nsw/
