At the last federal election in 2019, the government mocked the opposition over their policy to accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles in Australia by introducing a target of 50 per cent of new car sales being electric by 2030. At the time, the Prime Minister said, "An electric vehicle won't tow your trailer. It's not going to tow your boat. It's not going to get you out to your favourite camping spot with your family. Instead, it will end the weekend."

It was a response from a government that is not interested in reducing cars' impact on the environment. Fast forward to today, and the government has released an electric car policy that will invest in charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. It aims to assist the transition towards an electrified national fleet and significantly cut pollution levels in the transport sector over the next decade.

In contrast to his statements from 2019, the Prime Minister said he was not against electric vehicles. Instead, he had an issue with governments telling people what cars they should drive and where they should drive them.

Australia is at risk of being left behind if it does not do more to increase the number of electric vehicles. Many countries have pledged to ban the sale of combustion engines by 2030, while Norway leads the world in electric vehicle ownership, driven by a range of incentives such as waiving import tariffs and sales tax as well as registration fees.

With only 1 per cent of car sales in Australia being electric, we have a long way to go if we want to get rid of the gas guzzlers off the road.