Bill Shorten's plan for electric vehicles to make up half of all Australia's new cars by 2030 - as well as subsidising a new electric car manufacturing industry - could end up costing the country billions. While the Opposition leader has pitched his electric vehicle policy as a way to tackle climate change, encouraging drivers to switch from petrol cars has a huge financial downside that taxpayers will be forced to cover. Labor's National Electric Vehicle policy will set a target of 50 per cent of new cars bought in Australia being electric vehicles, pledging to increase sales from 2,500 per year to about 600,000 within ten years. The party claims they do not intend to directly subsidise electric cars, instead removing barriers to purchasing them - but the Government and motoring industry experts have criticised the plan, saying it was uncosted and under-developed. The government also points out that increasing the number of electric cars would dramatically increase the demands on Australia's electricity grid - which is at least 90 per cent powered by carbon-producing coal anyway. This week, Mr Shorten made the extraordinary claim that electric cars can be charged in eight minutes - while in fact some can take up to 14 hours, and even the fastest-charging vehicles take about 30 minutes to reach 80 per cent charged. Speaking to Kyle and Jackie O on KIIS FM, Mr Shorten said it could take 'eight to ten minutes' to charge an electric car, depending on how flat the battery was. Bill Shorten's plan for electric vehicles to make up half of all Australia's new cars by 2030 - as well as subsidising a manufacturing industry - could end up costing the country billions LABOR'S NATIONAL ELECTRIC VEHICLE POLICY 'For example, we are proposing to invest $100million to build more charging stations so that people will know that if they buy an electric car, there will be more places where they can recharge it,' a Labor spokesman said. But one country that's often quoted as the flag-bearer for encouraging drivers to switch to electric - Norway - has only done so by spending $3,400 per driver on subsidies each year, removing sales taxes and tolls, and introducing perks such as the use of bus lanes. Norway's subsidies come from taxes paid by drivers of petrol-fuelled cars, and the country has the highest proportion of new electric vehicles in the world at 39 per cent. Poll Do you think taxpayers should subsidise the electric car industry? Yes 0 votes No 0 votes Now share your opinion If Australia offered a similar subsidy for buyers of the 600,000 new electric cars they hope will be sold in 2030, that would equate to $2billion in taxpayer subsidies. In announcing the policy on the eve of the Federal Budget on Monday, Labor leader Bill Shorten said electric cars were 'good for the environment and cheaper to run'. 'Setting a national target will deliver more affordable electric vehicles into the Australian market and drive the switch to electric vehicles, reducing their cost, create thousands of jobs and cutting pollution,' he said. But again, if Australia met the target, the government would also lose out on 50 per cent of the revenue derived from fuel excises applied to petrol and diesel vehicles, or $2billion, according to forecasting submitted to the Senate Committee on Electric Vehicles by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Mr Shorten's policy announcement mentioned an 'electric vehicle innovation and manufacturing strategy' which would 'work with industry to create new job opportunities with the transition'. In 2013, then-prime minister Julia Gillard's New Car Plan involved $3.4billion in support for Australia's failing car manufacturing industry, in an attempt to keep Holden, Fords and Toyota making cars locally. Labor's National Electric Vehicle policy will set a target of 50 per cent of new cars bought in Australia being electric vehicles (stock image) But one country that's often quoted as the flag-bearer for encouraging drivers to switch to electric - Norway - has only done so by spending $3,400 per driver on subsidies each year, removing sales taxes and tolls, and introducing perks such as the use of bus lanes (stock image) THE NUMBER AND COST OF ELECTRIC CARS NOW How much will a new electric car cost you now? 2019 Hyundai IONIQ - $50,053 2019 BMW i3 - $79,663 2019 Tesla Model S - $138,337 2019 Jaguar I-PACE - $139,414 2019 Tesla Model X - $157,652 Source: Carsales.com.au According to the Senate Committee on Electric Vehicles report published in January 2019, about 7,300 of the 17million cars in Australia are electric. Just over a million new cars were purchased in 2017, and about 2,300 of them were electric cars. Twenty of the 24 electric vehicle models available in Australia are in the luxury vehicle category, priced at more than $60,000. The cheapest electric vehicle available in Australia is the Renault Zoe costing just under $50,000. A MASS RECHARGE COULD BLACKOUT SUBURBS Car Advice managing editor Trent Nikolic said Mr Shorten's target was 'not possible'. 'If a whole suburb was to go out and buy electric cars tomorrow... the whole suburb would go into blackout every night when people put them on charge,' he told 2GB. 'I keep hearing that Australia's behind the times and we risk lagging behind the rest of the world if we don't bring these numbers into play - but we haven't been able to get electric cars. 'Up until recently, you could only buy Teslas in Australia because other manufacturers weren't buying them in volumes to bring them into Australia. 'Labor talks about governing for the people... the worker, the lower socio-economic income, it just doesn't make any sense. 'Even at $46,000... it's approximately $20,000 more, give or take, than an equivalent petrol vehicle. That only hurts people on a budget. 'If you've got $100,000 or $200,000 to spend that's not going to affect you, but if you're on a budget, and you're buying one car in one family or one car amongst a young married couple saying to that group of society, ''We expect you to go and spend $50,000 rather than $22,000'' doesn't make any sense.' Mr Nikolic said many of Australia's top-selling cars 'did not make sense' being powered by electricity. 'There's dual-cab utes, there's large four-wheel drives... this sort of policy smacks of politicians based in the city, who don't even know that anything exists over the great dividing range. 'If you live on a farm and you've got to tow plant equipment, horse floats, machinery, if you've got to tow a caravan, if you've got to spend hours out on the farm with a heavy 4WD with a whole bunch of tools on the back of it working on fencing... these electric vehicles will not work for people any time soon.' While the Opposition leader has pitched his electric vehicle policy as a way to tackle climate change, encouraging drivers to switch from petrol cars has a huge financial downside that taxpayers will have to cove POLICY WILL REQUIRE TAXPAYER FUNDS Evan Mulholland, director of communications at the Institute of Public Affairs, said he could not understand the point of Labor's policy. Australia's electric vehicles About 7,300 of the 17million cars in Australia are electric vehicles. Just over a million new cars were purchased in 2017, and about 2300 of them were electric cars. Twenty of the 24 electric vehicle models available in Australia are in the luxury vehicle category, priced at more than $60,000. The cheapest electric vehicle available in Australia is the Renault Zoe costing just under $50,000. Source: Senate Committee on Electric Vehicles report, January 2019 'It is certainly not going to change the climate. Light vehicles make up just 10 per cent of Australia's human emissions, which make up just 1.3 per cent of all global human emissions,' he said. 'So the policy will make next to no difference to the climate. 'Not only do Labor want to resurrect an automobile industry funded by the taxpayer, it will almost certainly need to be funded by the taxpayer for decades to come.' Mr Mulholland said electric vehicles were not practical in a country as 'vast' as Australia. 'Labor needs to stop making electric vehicles a thing. The public have already voted with their feet, electric vehicles are just a measly 0.2 per cent of all new car sales,' he said. 'The highest selling car in Australia is the Toyota Hilux. There is currently no electric ute on the market. 'Try pushing an unreliable, unfeasible car onto the market, Labor is stiffing one of its traditional blue-collar constituencies.' BUDGET BOTTOM LINE HIT BY LOSS OF FUEL EXCISE Fred Pawle, from the Menzies Research Centre said people would have their personal choices limited by the policy. 'People are going to be forced to buy the type of car that Bill Shorten thinks will save the planet. Shouldn't the market be deciding these things?' he said. 'We don't have a car industry in Australia anymore thanks to the union movement. So for Bill Shorten to insinuate that he will encourage a new car industry, he'll have to address what drove it out - extraordinarily high wages.' Mr Pawle said he assumed the subsidies for manufacturing will be funded by taxes on petrol and diesel cars. 'Most predictions are that we will adopt electric cars eventually... Bill Shorten is just virtue signalling,' he said. 'The market should decide what is best for society'. 'When he made the announcement, Mr Shorten boasted about the explosion of rooftop solar panels - but they have been taken up by people who can afford them subsidised by people who can't. 'The same thing will happen with electric vehicles. 'It's typical Labor - they used to be about working class people and now they're just virtue-signalling to the inner cities.' WHERE WILL THE ELECTRICITY COME FROM? Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce chief executive Geoff Gwilym argued there was no 'concrete data' to support the push for 50 per cent of new cars to be electric. How long does it take to charge an electric car? The time it takes to charge an electric car depends on the model and the charging point. There are three ways to charge an electric car: level one, two and three. Level one charging uses an electrical socket, level two uses a home wall charger and level three uses a high-voltage DC charger at a public charging station. Fast charging stations take about 20 to 30 minutes to restore a fully depleted Nissan Leaf to about 80 per cent. A wall recharger that converts AC power to DC can be installed at home - this is level two charging. It takes about eight hours to recharge a fully depleted Leaf battery using level two charging. Using a standard power socket to charge a car can take about 14 hours - this is level one charging. Source: Choice 'The issue is there is no clear analysis. Financially we can't see any modelling about infrastructure,' he said. 'The first step is for the government to understand is how they're going to generate enough energy to power the cars. 'There's a big gap between making a policy announcement with good aspirations and then applying that.' Mr Gwilym predicted drivers would be reluctant to give up on their petrol-powered cars. 'People with old petrol, diesel cars will hold onto them because they can't afford a new, electric car,' he said. He said small automotive businesses including mechanics had been overlooked by the policy. 'One of the oversights is that as we move to an electric vehicle fleet there will be a huge displacement in mechanics,' he said. 'There are 90,000 mechanics in Australia, with 70,000 small businesses - having half of all cars being electric vehicles would halve the size of the industry on the mechanic repair side. 'I don't think it's been though through. Everyone is just on the electric vehicle bandwagon. Where is the consideration for these industries?' SUPPORT FROM ELECTRIC VEHICLE COUNCIL Mr Shorten's plan does have support from the Electric Vehicle Council, with chief executive Behyad Jafari saying it was an 'exciting step forward'. 'It would finally see Australia accelerating from the back of the global pack as we should. We are a well-resourced, modern nation full of people who care about their local environments and the planet,' he said. 'Without a hard target or an improvement in emissions standards, Australia is destined to become a dumping ground for dirty, petrol-thirsty vehicles that can't be sold elsewhere. They might seem cheap at purchase, but they'll cost consumers a lot more in the long run. 'Every Australian would benefit from a pivot to electric vehicles. Our cities could have clean, quiet roads. Drivers could be spared the unpredictability of the petrol bowser. And the nation wouldn't be completely dependent on foreign fuel imports. 'Australians want to own electric vehicles, this much we know from polls. But they need much better support from their government and Labor's plan would deliver it.' GOVERNMENT SLAMS LABOR'S PROPOSAL Treasurer Josh Frydenberg slammed Labor's policy as 'undeveloped' and warned if implemented, it would place more demand on Australia's struggling electricity network 'They haven't costed the backup and storage and that's needed, they haven't costed what the impact on the change in the existing energy mix is,' he said. However, the Liberal Party is eyeing a similar target for electrical vehicles. Labor senator Kristina Keneally asked senior bureaucrat Kristin Tilley if the government's climate change policy included a strategy that 'sees 25 to 50 per cent of new car sales in 2030 as electric vehicles'. Ms Tilley said that was 'correct', but that a plan for reaching the target had not been devised. What is Labor's National Electric Vehicle policy? National target of 50 per cent new car sales being electric vehicles by 2030. Government electric vehicle target of 50 per cent of new purchases and leases. Businesses will be able to deduct 20 per cent off any new electric vehicle valued at more than $20,000. $200million fund to roll out charging stations across Australia, with the Government contributing half and the rest coming from state and local government proposals. All federally-funded road upgrades will have to include electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Labor to implement an electric vehicle 'innovation and manufacturing strategy'. Vehicle emissions standards introduced to reduce pollution. All rights reserved for this news site dailymail and under his responsibility