The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has announced a new $40 million investment to provide discounted finance for the retail Green Car Loan offered by Australian non-bank lender Firstmac to boost electric vehicle uptake in Australia.
The CEFC investment seeks to encourage more manufacturers to make more EV models available to the market by extending the discount to EVs priced under $90,000, as long as strong emissions standards are met.
The CEFC funding will only be available for the lowest emissions EVs, with the criteria for green EVs raised to exclude low-emission internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, conventional hybrid vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles with tailpipe emissions of more than 50g CO2/km.
The latest investment is expected to finance at least 900 more EVs, helping customers save between approximately $1,400 and $2,500, depending on the size and length of the loan.
As part of the loan program, Firstmac customers will be able to get a 0.5 per cent discount for the life of their loan, on top of another 0.5 per cent discount provided by Firstmac.
The corporation has backed over $230 million of retail and commercial green finance, bringing more than 3,000 EVs and plug-in hybrids to Australian roads.
“We know the dynamics of EV ownership are changing dramatically and more Australians want to buy EVs. However just 6.8 per cent of all new cars purchased in Australia in February were electric, pointing to a big gap between buyer preferences and vehicle availability,” said Richard Lovell, head of debt markets at CEFC.
Reducing transport emissions is considered a crucial key towards achieving Australia’s emissions reduction target of 43 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 and reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
Australia’s non-EV passenger vehicles emit up to 20 per cent more emissions than those in the United States, and about 40 per cent more emissions than those sold in Europe.
The CEFC recently committed $40 million in asset finance to offer Firstmac customers a 0.7 per cent discount on low and zero-emissions vehicles, providing nearly $70 million in loans and contributing to the purchase of more than 1,800 EVs and low-emissions vehicles.
