WA State Budget to highlight electric vehicle package, road user charge

The Western Australian Government will allocate almost $60 million to accelerate the use of zero emission vehicles, with plans also being developed for a distance-based road user charge for zero and low emission light vehicles, as part of the 2022-23 State Budget.

The Clean Energy Car Fund will include $36.5 million to provide up to 10,000 rebates of $3500 to Western Australians that buy a new electric or hydrogen fuel cell vehicle up to a value of $70,000 from today (May 10).

The Western Australian Government is also investing $22.6 million in new charging infrastructure to expand WA’s electric vehicle charging network.

The 2022-23 Budget is also set to include $10 million to support not-for-profits and small and medium-sized businesses with grants of up to 50 per cent of the installing charging infrastructure costs and $5 million to support local government’s install charging infrastructure by providing grants of up to 50 per cent of the installation cost.

An additional $4 million will be allocated for the Public Transport Authority to trial the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure at four train stations, providing up to 20 bays per car park with commuter charging access; and more than $2.9 million in eight new charging stations across four locations on a section of the National Highway.

The WA Government will also introduce a distance-based road user charge for zero and low emission light vehicles commencing from July 1, 2027 to ensure all motorists pay their fair share towards the maintenance and construction of state roads.

A base rate of 2.5 cents per kilometre for electric and hydrogen vehicles and two cents per kilometre for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will apply, with both rates indexed to the Consumer Price Index. The State Government will invest $200,000 to develop options on systems for monitoring and collecting the future road user charge.

A further $31 million will also be allocated for climate action research and planning to support various initiatives that assist State Government agencies with reducing carbon emissions.

This $31 million includes funding to develop and implement strategies to reduce emissions and transition the agriculture, freight and regional heavy transport industries to net zero as part of the Sectoral Emissions Reduction Strategies.

Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan said the electric vehicle package would accelerate the states progression towards achieving net zero.

“Building on our $750 million Climate Action Fund that was announced last year, we are implementing further initiatives to significantly reduce our carbon emissions and progress towards net zero emissions,” he said.

“This will assist WA with reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero, while also reducing the pressure of high petrol prices on WA households that utilise the rebate.”

The Western Australian State Budget will be handed down at 2pm (AWST) today.