New electric vehicle discount to cut $2500 off loans

Electric vehicle buyers will be able to save up to $2500 on the price of green car loans in a $40 million incentive scheme launched by the federal government.

The program, which will apply to electric cars up to $90,000, comes one day after the government announced its National Electric Vehicle Strategy which outlined plans to get more zero-emission cars into the country.

Industry experts welcomed the scheme on Thursday, saying it could make some electric vehicles cheaper to buy than petrol or diesel cars, but warned buyers would need to "shop around" to collect all available discounts.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the loan discount program, to be run by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, was designed to make electric vehicles accessible to more motorists.

"We know EVs are cleaner and cheaper to run and we want to make it easier for more Australians who want them to purchase them," Mr Bowen said.

"Discounted loans are a great way to help Australians buy an EV and grow the first and second-hand EV markets."

The discounted loans will be available through non-bank lender Firstmac's Green Car Loan Scheme and are estimated to save borrowers an average of $1400 to $2500, depending on the loan's size and length.

Firstmac will split the cost of the loan discount with the corporation.

Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Behyad Jafari said the new incentive would make it easier for Australians to invest in an electric car.

When combined with tax cuts and state-based incentives, he said, it would see some electric cars cost less up-front than equivalent petrol or diesel cars.

"Once you couple financial incentives and tax breaks from your state government, not paying fringe benefits tax, and then paying lower cost finance you can see a very significant financial incentive for Australians to drive an electric vehicle," he said.

"You can save $10,000 by using all the financial incentives on offer and that's starting to see Australia come into line with places like the US on the amount of financial incentives for consumers."

But Australian Electric Vehicle Association national president Chris Jones said motorists would "have to shop around" to ensure they did not miss any incentives on offer from different organisations and the government could have made price cuts easier to access.

"This (loan program) sounds like a nice thing but it also sounds like the government is trying to stay at arm's length from any potential financial risk," he said.

The new program is the third electric vehicle discount scheme offered through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation in recent years, with a $20.5 million program launched with Taurus Motor Finance in 2022 and $45 million offered with Plenti in 2021.