Victoria committed $46 million to the subsidy and said it would be handed out to 20,000 new car buyers,but the scheme was left out of last month’s state budget.
A government spokesperson said it had received more than 8000 applications for the subsidy,suggesting it had exhausted less than half the funds committed to the program. Solar Victoria,which administers the scheme,advises on its website that there are 2776 subsidies available until June 30.
Most states offer subsidies to encourage motorists to buy EVs rather than polluting petrol cars. NSW gives $3000 and Queensland this year doubled its handout to $6000.
Victoria has set the target for 50 per cent of all new car sales to be zero-emissions vehicles by 2030.
Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Behyad Jafari said that although demand for EVs was growing from motorists,taking away the subsidy would make it harder for the state to meet that target.
“There are targets that Victoria has and they have to do more to meet them,and it’s not helped by a state government putting in disincentives and taking away incentives,” Jafari said.