Lloyds Auctions this week revealed it is now auctioning second-hand EVs for higher prices at auction than their original retail price, because “people are realising how much they can save in fuel per year by owning an electric vehicle”.
According to the Electric Vehicle Council, the sales are “testament to the Australian government’s stunning failure to create a healthy and functional EV market”.
“This is a stunning reflection of how the Australian government has allowed demand to totally outstrip supply on EVs, leaving Australian consumers with the choice between a massive wait or paying above-retail for a used car,” EVC Chief Executive Behyad Jafari says.
“The Morrison government seems to have confused its own myopic views about EVs with those of average Australians and has completely misjudged how demand would grow.”
Mr Jafari says Australians are queuing up to buy EVs, despite “the nonsense that was peddled by the government about EVs at the last election”. But shelves are empty because the federal government has made Australia “a uniquely hostile market” to EVs.
“Global carmakers are far more interested in selling cars in Europe or the US or even New Zealand, where fuel efficiency standards are established and governments offer unambiguous support to the transition,” he says,
“Every Australian who wants to buy an EV should have the same array of options as their counterparts in America or Europe. The fact that they do not is the fault of the federal government and its unique hostility to EVs.”
