Australia extends EV tax breaks as fuel fears grow

Visitors explore vehicles of Chinese carmaker GWM at the Melbourne Motor Show in Melbourne, Australia, on April 10. XU HAIJING/XINHUA

Australia has extended an electric vehicle purchase incentive program as it aims to cut dependence on fossil fuels amid the Middle East crisis, a move expected to benefit Chinese automakers that have been gaining ground in the country in recent years.

The federal budget, unveiled by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Tuesday, keeps in place current tax exemptions for EVs under the Electric Car Discount policy until March next year, before the discounts — which go back to July 2022 — are wound down starting April 2027.

The ongoing support for EVs is part of measures to strengthen "fuel resilience", as the conflict in the Middle East has been "pushing up prices, pushing down growth, and punishing Australians", Chalmers said in his budget speech.

Hussein Dia, a professor of transport technology and sustainability at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, told China Daily that "one of the clearest signals" of the budget announcement is that "Australia is moving from early EV adoption toward a broader transport system transition".