{"id":19834,"date":"2026-04-02T00:15:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T13:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/?p=19834"},"modified":"2026-04-02T00:15:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T13:15:06","slug":"seize-the-moment-to-accelerate-electrification-of-australian-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/uncategorized\/seize-the-moment-to-accelerate-electrification-of-australian-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Seize the moment to accelerate electrification of Australian economy"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p>With Australia in the grips of the third global energy crisis in six years, we \u2013 a coalition of energy, industry and consumer advocacy organisations \u2013 comprising the Energy Consumers Australia, Energy Efficiency Council, Electric Vehicle Council, Green Building Council of Australia, Rewiring Australia and Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity \u2013 call on Australian governments meeting for National Cabinet on Monday to bolster the security, affordability and productivity of Australia\u2019s energy systems by turbocharging electrification across the economy.<br \/><br \/>Australia\u2019s cost of living crisis is being exacerbated by higher fuel prices for Australian motorists and businesses. If supply chain disruptions persist, experts expect Australia\u2019s gas prices to increase as well, adding to inflationary pressure across the economy. And even if the crisis ends tomorrow, it will take time for supplies to be restored and prices to normalise.<br \/><br \/>Acknowledging the Prime Minister\u2019s recognition on Friday of EV support as a cost of living measure, we urge governments to move quickly to help Australians make the switch to efficient electric technologies where possible.<br \/><br \/>It is increasingly clear that accelerating the shift to electrification is critical to Australia\u2019s economic and national security. It helps insulate Australians from volatile international commodity markets, leverages our abundant home-grown renewable energy advantage, reduces running costs, and puts Australian business on a more competitive footing.<br \/><br \/>Electric technologies also boost energy productivity, being on average three times more efficient than fossil fuel-based systems, and reducing overall energy use while increasing the energy services delivered (Ember, 2025).<br \/><br \/>Research shows that 75 per cent of the global energy system can be electrified now with existing technologies (Ember, 2025). Overall, around 21.5 per cent of Australia\u2019s energy demand is met by electricity. While there has been growth in some sectors in recent years, electricity\u2019s share of energy use across the economy has barely shifted over the past two decades.<br \/><br \/>This has to change. It is in Australia\u2019s national interest to take a giant leap forward in the adoption of electric technologies, including electric cars and trucks, heat pumps, induction cooktops and clean industrial heat.<br \/><br \/>We call on the federal, state and territory governments to place Australia\u2019s energy security at the top of their agenda by supporting Australian motorists, households and businesses to electrify now. Key actions to deliver on include:<br \/><br \/>1. Helping more households and businesses make the switch to electric cars and trucks, including through retention of the Electric Car Discount, financial incentives for freight operators to go electric and public infrastructure.<br \/>2. Accelerating efforts to get Australian homes and commercial buildings off gas appliances, and onto efficient electric alternatives, including targeted support for those who face barriers such as renters, apartment-dwellers and low-income Australians.<br \/>3. Supporting manufacturers and food processors to electrify their operations where technically feasible, with a focus on clean industrial heat technologies. <br \/>4. Maintaining momentum on the roll-out of renewable energy, storage and grid development, supporting supply to keep pace with rising electricity demand.<br \/>5. Investing in public communications programs to educate Australians about the benefits of electrification, and the range of support available to make the switch.<br \/><br \/>Appendix \u2013 Australian electrification share, by sector \u2013 2023-24<br \/>Sector Electrified share<br \/>Economy-wide 21.5%<br \/>Transport (road, rail, air, water) 1.5%<br \/>Road transport (all) 0.13%<br \/>Residential buildings 53%<br \/>Commercial buildings 73%<br \/>Industry (all) 25.5%<br \/><em>Source: Australian Energy Statistics 2025, Table H: Total final energy consumption in Australia, by industry, by fuel, energy units<\/em><br \/><br \/>Note: Media statement updated on 1 April 2026 to amend the reference to economy-wide electrification growth from \u20180.3 percentage points per year\u2019 to \u2018has barely shifted\u2019.<br \/><br \/>ENDS<br \/><br \/>For further information, please contact:<br \/>Electric Vehicle Council: Aman Gaur, 0415 241 017<br \/><br \/>Gabriel Wong: Positive Good for all general media enquiries and on behalf of the Energy Efficiency Council, 0432 177 005 gabriel@positivegood.com.au<br \/><br \/>A2EP: Laura Taylor, laura.taylor@a2ep.org.au<br \/><br \/>Energy Consumers Australia: Patrick Veyret, 0431 822 372<br \/><br \/>Rewiring Australia: Francis Vierboom, 0422 901 234<\/p>\r\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With Australia in the grips of the third global energy crisis in six years, we&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-releases","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19834"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19860,"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19834\/revisions\/19860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricvehiclecouncil.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}