The Electric Vehicle Council cooperated with Tesla Owners Club of Australia (TOCA) to create one of the largest surveys of electric vehicle (EV) owners in Australia to date.
In total, 741 Tesla owners responded to the self-reported survey, which is said to represent more than 50% of total TOCA membership.
It should be noted that this survey was conducted only by Tesla owners, so it is not entirely representative of all EV drivers in Australia.
The survey provided information on vehicle owner demographics, charging behavior and total cost of ownership, to help better understand electric vehicle ownership.
The hope is to assist policymakers in planning for future electric vehicle adoption and to build on other research on electric vehicle owner preferences in Australia.
A large share (51%) of respondents claim to have traveled between 10,000 and 19,999km per year, in line with Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data from 2020 showing that the average passenger vehicle in Australia travels 11,100km in a year.
But another 38% said they traveled more than 20,000 kilometers a year.
This result shows that EVs can be driven at least by gasoline and diesel-powered internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, which suggests that EV owners are not exposed to the limitations of driving. driving range limit.
The EV Council has said that gathering more data through the use of telematics could provide insight into the average distance traveled over ICE vehicles.
In addition, about 90% of respondents said they use public chargers, such as Tesla Superchargers, Tesla destination chargers and other DC chargers, less than one per week.
This suggests that the majority of survey respondents’ billing is being done at home.
For respondents who said they charge at home, the survey found that more than 25% charge daily. This suggests that these home battery recharges are smaller recharges, rather than larger ones.
In terms of fuel cost savings, the survey found that 48% of respondents calculate their fuel economy from owning an electric car.
Of those who said they calculated their fuel economy, nearly 50% of respondents identified that they save more than $2000 per year.
In addition, 48% of respondents said they calculate maintenance and repair costs compared to ICE vehicles.
Of those who say they calculate their maintenance savings, 41% say they save more than $1000 per year.
About 65% of the respondents also said they do not follow any maintenance schedule. This is to be expected as Tesla vehicles require no official log book maintenance.
The EV Council has said that further research is needed to better understand the components of maintenance savings for EV owners and over what period of time these savings are being calculated.
Another interesting fact that arose from this survey included 51% of respondents aged between 50 and 69 years old.
Of the 741 survey respondents, 731 said what kind of car they owned before buying a Tesla.
The most popular brand reported by respondents was Volkswagen, with almost 10%, followed by Toyota (8.8%), Mercedes-Benz (8.1%), Subaru (7.1%) and BMW ( 6.7%). ).
This electric vehicle owner survey comes at a pivotal time as the Federal Government is currently designing the country’s long-awaited National Electric Vehicle Strategy.
It recently released a promising consultation paper so that Australians can have their say on how policy settings can encourage local production of electric vehicles, chargers and other components; address the effects of reduced excise fuel sales, which may occur through tolls; and support the implementation of the charging infrastructure.
While all Australian States and Territories With various EV incentive plans in place, including the availability of cash rebates and tax cuts, the federal government has identified a lack of “coordination and alignment at the national level” that they say need to be fixed.
Core goals can be broadly defined as:
- Making electric vehicles more affordable
- Expanding EV . absorption and selection
- Reduce emissions
- Save Australians money on fuel
- Increasing Australian production
In a joint statement, Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen and Transport and Infrastructure Minister Catherine King said: “All Australians are encouraged to speak out about how we can transforming Australia’s transport industry”.
The entire consultation is 18 pages long, which you can read hereEntries will be accepted until October 31.
THAN: National EV strategy: Government releases consultation document
