In the lead up to the federal election, the topic of Electric Vehicles (EVs) is at the forefront of political conversation.

In fact, Labor has announced it wants 50 per cent of all new cars sold in Australia to be electric by 2030 with plans to invest millions towards rebuilding a car manufacturing industry built around EVs.

This policy has been met with criticism and questions continue to be raised about the viability of EVs in regional Queensland.

Juergen Zimmermann, a Darwin based EV enthusiast owns one of the few EVs in the city and has said his car gets about a 150km range meaning he has to keep a diesel powered 4WD for longer road trips outside of the city.

Mr Zimmermann believes for the moment that EVs are most suitable for city commuters; however, this could change with the evolving hydrogen-powered electric cars – likely to come onto the market within two years – particularly as semi-trailers fuelled on hydrogen overseas are reportedly travelling 2,000 kilometres on a single tank.

This technology has the potential to drive the development of a hydrogen gas industry as well as see a much greater level of appeal for regional Australians.

Source: ABC News: Hydrogen power could finally get regional Australians excited about electric cars 

15 Apr 2019