Press conference, Northmead, Sydney

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, thanks, everyone, for coming this morning, it's a very good day. As I go around Australia, more and more people say to me they are thinking about buying an EV, they want to buy an EV, but one of the big roadblocks is concern about how far they can get in their EV and the need to access charging. What we call range anxiety. The other one is, of course, the cost, up-front cost of an EV.

So today this is a very good announcement which helps with range anxiety, which helps with getting more chargers into our country. Today, the Government, through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, is partnering with Ampol to support the next stage of Ampol's roll out of EV chargers, but also solar panels and batteries in service stations, and also supporting the very good announcement that I was present for earlier in the week by Ampol and other players to develop a low carbon liquid fuels plant in Lytton in Brisbane, which is very important to ensure the ongoing employment and work for the many, many employees at that refinery.

We know that electrification is very important, but we also know that it can only do so much and that getting lower carbon liquid fuels will be very important to our decarbonisation. So that's why we're pleased, very pleased, with the announcement earlier this week and we're happy to support it through this program.

We're also happy to support the work that Ampol is doing to roll out more EV chargers at their service stations. So any car you drive, ultimately, whether it be petrol or electric or diesel, you will be able to know that if there's an Ampol there you're a very good chance of getting a charging station there. This money that we're announcing today, will support Ampol in rolling out 200 new chargers by 2025. And this is key.

The other thing that I'm pointing to today is that I mentioned the other concern was affordability. New figures we're releasing today show that we now have 22 models of electric vehicle in Australia under $60,000 for purchase. That's a good thing. That means there are more options. We have more to do and the new vehicle efficiency standards will do that work to get more affordable EVs into Australia but that's a big increase, a doubling over the last year or so, and a good step towards giving motorists, whether they be young motorists looking at their first car, or people looking at their second or third car later in their career, have an option of an affordable EV going forward.

So this also builds on yesterday's announcement of a $20 million contribution to the company Splend to help ride share drivers get EVs. Ride share drivers spend four times the amount of time on the road than most of the rest of us. Makes sense because they're driving for a living all day and every day. So their emissions can be reduced and, importantly, their bills can be reduced by switching to an EV. But they, too, as they drive around the city or wherever they are all day, need to know that there's plenty of charging infrastructure so that they can call in for 10 or 15 or 20 minutes, get a charge and then go on making money as a ride share driver.

So all this comes together. The announcement earlier in the week, in Brisbane, the announcement we made yesterday with Splend. This important announcement which gives Ampol the flexibility through a loan from the CEFC, which will be paid back in due course, but provides them with the option and the flexibility for doing what they want to do, to ensure that they remain a company which is available to motorists. As petrol cars leave the grid, over time and more EVs come in, motorists need to know that the companies that they've known and relied on for many, many years are there for them. As EV drivers, that's important for them and important for Ampol.

So I very much congratulate Ampol on their initiative so far. I occasionally use an Ampol charger myself on the drive to Canberra and it's very well done, and I like to see more of it and Ampol is doing more of it and we're helping them do more of it. So I'm going to hand over to the CEO of Ampol, Matt Halliday, to add a few comments and then we'll come back and take questions.

MATT HALLIDAY: Thank you very much, Minister Bowen, and it's a real pleasure to welcome Minister Bowen and executive director of the CEFC, Rupert Maloney, here to our Northmead site this morning. It is an exciting day.

Just before I make some remarks, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land where we are today, that's the Dharug people here in Northmead, and pay my respects to elders past, present, and emerging.

So it is an exciting day for us. We're proud to work with the CEFC to make sure we can continue on in delivering low carbon and zero carbon solutions for our customers. Ampol's in a really significant position to be able to enable our customers to make that transition, as the Minister mentioned, both in terms of electrification and light vehicle transport over time will transition down the electrification path and Ampol is really well positioned to be able to take its service stations that it has, the broad network that gives our customers the comfort to refuel their cars today and have access to convenience when they're refuelling their vehicles with renewable energy in the future, having access to that convenience when they dwell for a longer period of time in our sites is really an important part of enabling the overall transition and giving our customers the confidence to make that transition recognising they're going to spend longer on our sites.

So we're pleased to be able to partner with the CEFC to be able to continue to roll out that fast-charging network which is going to be a really important part of alleviating that range anxiety. Obviously, as the Minister mentioned, heavy vehicles are a more complex challenge and that's why it is really pleasing that we were able to announce on Tuesday the MOU that we have signed with both GrainCorp and IFM investors. So a homegrown coalition that can take forward the pursuit of a renewable fuels manufacturing facility up at the Lytton refinery in Brisbane.

So Ampol is very much leaning into this transition. We see that our customers are looking to make the change and we need to be part of the solution to enable that change for them over time. And it's a real - it's a real positive that we're able to work with organisations like the CEFC to make that transition start to really come to life. So on that note, Minister, I will pass back to you for questions.

CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks very much, Matt, and again, congratulations to Ampol. Happy to take questions.

SPEAKER: Minister, you've tabled and released the first annual update to the national EV strategy. Are you happy with progress so far and are all the outlined priorities currently on track?

CHRIS BOWEN: Yes, thanks, Lucy, yes. Some of those figures I referred to earlier were from the annual update to the new vehicle strategy. And I am pleased with what we've done so far but we've got a lot more to do. The fact that when we came to office, electric vehicle sales were 2 per cent of the total vehicle sales and today they're one in ten is a good thing. It's a very good thing and not bad for two years. But we've got a lot more to do to reach international averages, and as I said before, in my experience, lots of people want to buy EVs. Lots of people are interested. Lots of people would prefer to. But there are a few things holding them back at the moment and step by step we're reducing and eliminating those barriers.

Secondly, affordable EVs, I'm pleased with that. As I said, 22 models of now vehicles under $60,000. And also the charging figures we've released today. Again, we all recognise a long way to go but a big increase in charging, publicly available charging over the last 12 months. That's partly through government policies like Driving the Nation, partly through State Government policies, through our various programs, it's partly through the private sector, of course. But a partnership, a genuine partnership is what's going to get this job done. I'm very pleased with those figures but I do recognise there's much more to do.

SPEAKER: Are you concerned that the cost of the electricity is turning people away from getting an EV?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, people will obviously weigh up their options and look at the cost of petrol and the cost of electricity. But the best example I can give you, Lucy, is yesterday I met with three ride share drivers who have made the switch to electric, and they were telling me the biggest change for them is the amount of money they're saving. They are charging at home and on the road and saving very considerable amounts of money as a result compared to what they were paying when they were driving petrol cars. So, of course, of course people will weigh these things up, but in my experience, everyone who has made the switch talks about how much money they've saved because even with electricity prices at an elevated level, they are making money or spending less money by their switch to an EV, that's before we even get to a reduction in servicing charge. When you've got an EV with fewer moving parts, you hardly ever have to get it serviced as opposed to a traditional vehicle where you need servicing at least every 12 months.

MIKE FOLEY: Just a couple of brief questions that flow together. One, you mentioned international sales figures parity there, Minister. What more needs to be done to, I guess, Australia really needs to double its proportion of new EVs sold in the market to reach international parity. Do you aspire to match that? And, secondly, there's been some quite interesting reports pointing out that new EV sales are taking off in western suburbs of our capital cities, particularly Sydney. That's quite intriguing. I was hoping you could tell me what you make of that trend?

CHRIS BOWEN: Certainly. Thanks, Mike. On the first question, what we need to do is keep the course and keep going with what we've already outlined. Already our policies are having a big impact and a lot of that lift in electric vehicle sales from when we came to office to today, is fleets and novated leases. And that's our electric vehicle tax discount working, doing what we expected it to do. Because now, with that tax discount, an electric vehicle is often cheaper than its petrol equivalent, and that's a good thing.

Secondly, the next big thing, of course, the next big step is implementing the new vehicle efficiency standards, something which has been in the too hard basket in Australia for 20 years. Should have been done 20 years ago. Governments of both persuasions had tried. We've got it done. Legislated, law of the land, comes into force next year and that's about requiring manufacturers to give Australians better choices. And, as you know, Mike, Australia and Russia were the only two major economies without these standards. Now it's just Russia. Now it's just Russia. So we are very competitive now because of the new vehicle efficiency standards. Of course, they're still to come into force but they're legislated. Just got to keep on that journey.

In relation to your second question about the western suburbs, 100 per cent. It's a myth that only people in the inner cities buy electric vehicles. I live in western Sydney. I live about 20 minutes’ drive from here, south-west Sydney, and I see electric vehicles around me all the time. As people who drive longer, as people in the western suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne, the other cities tend to do, drive longer to get places, realise the benefits of buying an EV in some form.

You know, Tesla's best-selling outlet last time I looked, was Parramatta. There are more Teslas sold in Blacktown than Bondi. It is not an inner city thing. This is something for all Australians. We want more Australians to have those real choices. At the moment, everyone has a choice technically, but the choice isn't always real.

If you live in country Australia, you want to know that there's going to be more charging so you can do your longer journeys safe in the knowledge that there's more charging. We're delivering that. We're get thing on with the job. There are some challenges and complexities but we're getting on with it, as the increase in charging in the new figures I referred to before show.

So the answer to your first question is stay the course. The answer to your second question is yes, people who drive longer and spend more on petrol are big beneficiaries of EVs and hence they're taking it up in greater numbers.

SPEAKER: Just on today's announcement, how will you decide where these new EV chargers will be located? Do you have particular priority spots that you are looking at?

MATT HALLIDAY: Thanks, Lucy. So in terms of where the stations will be located, we do a huge amount of modelling to make sure we're delivering the sites where the customers need them. So what I would say is there are two really significant factors. We want to make sure that where the EVs are being purchased by postcode, that's really important data for us to inform where the stations are needed by our customers. And then Minister Bowen referred to fleets and fleets are a really important part of this transition. We've got a really leading position today in terms of our fleet customer base and the reason we have that leading position is because we have the number one network in terms of coverage in the country. And so we're very cognisant of the fact that we need to roll out our network and make sure we're providing coverage to our customers so that they have the confidence to be able to make the transition and an on-the-go charging solution and network coverage is there for them to give them that confidence.  

SPEAKER: So based on your modelling, where will they be rolled out?

MATT HALLIDAY: So they're rolled out where we see the vehicles coming. So we do see a roll out across western Sydney, and we do see a significant uplift in vehicles in that part of the country, and in inner city areas we are also seeing strong uplift in electric vehicle sales. But we continue to adapt and adjust our approach as we see that data. But as the Minister's mentioned, it is not just in the inner city areas where we are seeing uptake, we are seeing it more broad based than that.

SPEAKER: And how do you see - over the coming months and years, I mean, you say inner city areas and western Sydney is where there are spots of demand, I mean how do you encourage people - who aren't in those areas who have that anxiety that you were talking about, about being able to charge their car, how do you encourage them to make the switch?

MATT HALLIDAY: I think, as Minister Bowen mentioned, there's a lot of factors that go into this vehicle pricing is one of them, vehicle range. We can see all of those factors moving. I think next most important factor when we talk to or customers or the next couple of factors are the availability of infrastructure to ensure that range anxiety is not an issue, and that is exactly what the announcement we're making today is all about. It's about rolling out a network that gives customers that comfort. Some people will be more comfortable. They've got a solution at home that gives them greater comfort, or they don't travel quite as far. Other customers who have a different use profile want to see the infrastructure rolling out before they feel confident.

The other factor that's really important, which is where I think Ampol is really well positioned, is when they are charging their car on the go, they want access to good facilities. They want somewhere where the charging will be reliable, it will happen relatively quickly, and they know that they can get a coffee or access convenience facilities where they're charging and that's where I think that's a really nice fit for our business. We not only have the real estate coverage right across the country, we've got in the order of 1,800 branded sites, but we've got convenience facilities and that's a part of our business that we're growing in and investing in to make sure that as we look to the future, the right convenience facilities are there for the customers to be spending more time on our sites over time.

SPEAKER: Great, that's it from me, thank you.

CHRIS BOWEN: Anything else from anyone else? All in, all done, final call. That's a wrap. Thanks, guys.