Keeping electric motorcycles in the mix ‍

On 29 June 2022, the Federal Government announced a proposal to cut the tariffs and remove fringe benefits tax (FBT) on electric cars from 1 July 2022. While this measure is not yet law, if enacted it will apply to the FBT year that ends on 31 March 2023.  

FONZ founder and CEO Michelle Nazzari proposes to include electric motorcycles and road-legal electric scooters in these measures to incentivise the uptake of sustainable, congestion combating, urban mobility in Australia.‍

While FONZ successfully lobbied the New South Wales government to extend the EV stamp duty exemption to electric road-scooters, Nazzari says these vehicles are often still missed in dialogue and policy around electric vehicles (EV) in Australia.

However two-wheel EVs should be considered in the Electric Vehicle Strategy as they greatly reduce congestion and emissions on Australian roads.

"We are seeing a big uptake with our corporate partners going from trials to full roll-out of our scooters in their fleet mix."

It is important to note that riders on electric motorcycles and road-legal scooters hold Australian drivers licences, pay motor vehicle taxes and adhere to the same stringent road rules as other vehicles, unfortunately they are not often considered in policy. Two-wheel EVs are often confused with the likes of 'L shaped' scooters. They should be separated clearly from the likes of these 'L shaped' scooters such as Lime scooters and bicycles.

Electric motorcycles and scooters have proven to play an important role in the mobility mix in many European and Asian markets, and in the same way they should be considered in policy and incentives in the electric vehicle strategy as they are in these other markets.