While the cities are starting to speed ahead with the shift to electric vehicles (EVs), regional Australians are paying the price at the petrol pump and missing out on affordable EVs. The petrol car lobby is trying to weaponise myths that EVs that suit the regions don’t exist to keep Australia as a dumping ground for polluting vehicles for as long as they can. 

We can’t win the policies we need to unlock affordable EVs for all Australians without the support of regions, suburbs and cities together. 

Enter: the Electric Ute Roadshow. 

The Electric Ute Roadshow is our community campaign to ensure the regions aren’t left behind as we unlock the benefits of affordable electric vehicles for all Australians. The Roadshow will highlight how sensible transport policies being considered by parliament will give people the choice of more efficient, affordable and diverse vehicles suitable for the regions – including the much-loved Aussie tradition of utes. 

We’re touring the first commercially-available electric ute around Australia to let regional communities and MPs see first-hand the many cost-saving benefits EVs can bring to the regions – including the $4 billion in savings up for grabs if we introduce Fuel Efficiency Standards, the key policy to unlock affordable EVs. 

A few snaps from our Ballarat Roadshow Launch event.

And we’re already having a major impact. We kicked off our Roadshow with a hard-hitting event in Ballarat, where Federal Transport Minister Catherine King launched our first report on how much regional areas like Ballarat can save. She was so impressed with event that she even mentioned it in National Press Club speech to the media in early March! 

Transport Minister Catherine King reading our Recharging Ballarat report alongside our Clean Transport Organiser, Ben Lever.

Setting a Fuel Efficiency Standard will ensure all Australians have the choice of the EV they want, including affordable models and utes available overseas already – by a simple rule change that car makers already have to meet almost everywhere else in the world. It’s common sense, and the sooner we get this policy, the sooner we can start saving the big bucks.

The Electric Ute Roadshow will be an important two-way dialogue with Canberra, amplifying the voices of people in the regions and feeding back their concerns and questions to Minister King. We still need support from regional MPs and communities to get Fuel Efficiency Standards across the line, so we’re going to gather those views first-hand.

We have our eyes set on over 20 more locations over the next few months. For each region we travel to, we’ll prepare an analysis of the benefits of EVs and package it up as a report as part of our Recharging the Regions series. 

Of course, this campaign is only possible thanks to our amazing supporters. It’s through generous donations that we were able to get it off the ground and onto the roads.

Come along for the ride as the Electric Ute Roadshow drives an EV-positive message home and reveals the many cost-saving benefits that electric vehicles bring to the regions.