The Federal Government plans to introduce a New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) in a bid to encourage vehicle suppliers to sell cleaner cars and to reduce transport emissions, and people have until 4 February to have their say on the proposed design options of the NVES.
On 4 February the government published the Cleaner, Cheaper to Run Cars: An Australian New Vehicle Efficiency Standard Consultation Impact Analysis which sets out the options and government’s preferred design.
The impact analysis says Australia and Russia are among the only advanced economies without a new vehicle efficiency standard, meaning we spend more on fuel and have fewer choices of cheaper-to-run cars.
More than 85 per cent of cars sold worldwide are covered by a new vehicle efficiency standard, but, the one million new cars sold in Australia each year are not required to meet any level of fuel efficiency. Passenger cars in Australia on average, use 20 per cent more fuel than passenger cars in the US, the report said.
“The introduction of a new vehicle efficiency standard or NVES, will mean that global car manufacturers will need to supply the same advanced emissions technology to Australia that they already supply to other advanced economies.”
The cars we drive are responsible for about 13 per cent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, with cars being the largest contributor to CO2 emissions in the transport sector.
In submissions to the National Electric Vehicle Strategy in September 2022, there was strong support for an Australian new vehicle efficiency standard. In April 2023, the Government released a consultation paper seeking views on the design of a standard – and by June 2023, received about 2,700 submissions, with the majority supporting a new vehicle efficiency standard, the impact study states.
Following on from the consultation paper, the impact study presents options, the costs and benefits associated with each option, and the Government’s proposed policy.
The Government’s preferred settings for a new vehicle efficiency standard is to put in place arrangements by 2025 that mean catching up to the US average vehicle emissions intensity by around 2028. The change is expected to deliver abatement of 369 million tonnes of CO2 by 2050, and close to 100 million tonnes of CO2 abatement by 2035.
People can have their say on the NVES by visiting
Submissions close at 11.59pm on 4 March.
