The Australian Electric Vehicle Association

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Electric vehicle regulation

There is a developing discrimination in places around the world regarding what is considered an Electric Car or not.

The most recent Vehicle facts registration details record separate figures for the BMW i-3 and the i-3 Rex, whereas for 2015 it was combined.

Recent articles from the UK state that some local authorities are limiting concessions for electric cars to ''pure electric', BEV's"" that is to say PHEV's are excluded from benefits. This may be a reaction to the incidence of Prius owners and other serial hybrid drivers taking the liberty of parking in " Electric only'' charge equipped parking spots, or it may be the application of a distinction that says any vehicle which can run on pollution producing internal combustion, either directly or by use of a generator to power the electric motor, does not meet zero emissions requirements.

Cynics and conspiracy theorists, might see this as a result of pressure from the oil lobby and car companies to limit the advantage of any low emissions competitors who use on board generating range extenders to enable electric drive trains to compete on range with petrol cars.

AEVA's stance on what constitutes an electric vehicle has been-

If the drive train is all electric and the vehicle can plug-in to recharge and it can propel itself using only the stored energy then it is an EV.

However, given the above developments, and the pending review of Australian vehicle emission standards, it may be time to refine this definition.

If the question is raised, should any concessions, benefits or rebates in Australia, be limited to pure electric BEV's or should parallel hybrids be included, should serial hybrid that can run all electric for very limited distances be included, or are only PHEV included, should there be a minimum range under which cars fitted with range extenders are excluded. Should the definition be tailored to include the Mitsubishi Outlander type design where the petrol engine can direct drive the rear wheels at freeway speeds?

Proposed definition: Vehicles that use an exclusively electric drive train at urban and suburban speeds and that can use an external non-onboard source of power to replenish power to the drive train and can use stored power to travel a minimum of fifty kilometres at 60 KpH.






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