Major Australian Energy Retailer Launches Electric Car Subscriptions

A Tesla vehicle is charged at a charging station in Gold Coast, Australia, on Feb. 16, 2023. AAP Image/Jason O'Brien

A major Australian energy company has launched a range of month-to-month electric vehicle (EV) subscriptions in a bid to boost the EV adoption rate in the country.

On March 8, Origin Energy announced that it will now offer a number of EV subscription services to customers in Australia, following similar moves by other energy companies such as AGL and Aurora Energy.

Currently, EVs are still out of reach for many Australians, with prices starting from over $44,000 (US$29,000) for the cheapest model in the market.

Origin believes its new subscription packages are the solution to high EV prices.

“We know that cost is a major barrier preventing many people from making the switch to EVs, which is why we are providing affordable and flexible alternatives to car ownership and making it cheaper for customers to charge their vehicles,” Origin e-mobility general manager Chau Le said in a statement.

Details of the EV Subscription Packages

The company’s subscription packages allow customers to choose from 12 EV models, including cars from Tesla, Polestar, BYD, MG and Volvo, with pricing starting from $305 per week.

Origin said the subscriptions were on a month-to-month basis and would be salary packaged through customers’ employers to take advantage of the Fringe Benefits Tax exemption for EVs.

Taking effect in July 2022, the policy exempts employers from paying fringe benefits tax if they provide their employees with a zero or low-emissions vehicle for private use.

In addition, Origin said customers who signed up for its EV packages would be able to access an energy plan that provided five hours of free energy between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and off-peak energy rates between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m.

The plan is also accessible to customers who purchase Origin’s Smart EV Charger and Audi’s e-tron EV model.

“The purpose of the EV Energy Plan is to minimise usage during the peak periods and encourage drivers to charge their vehicles when energy demand is lowest,” she said in comments obtained by AAP.

“Transportation is the third largest source of emissions in Australia, and we’re really keen to decarbonise our transport footprint as well as help our customers accelerate that transition to EVs.”

Supplied image of Origin e-mobility general manager Chau Le with an electric car in Sydney, Australia, on Nov. 4, 2022. AAP Image/Supplied by Origin, Larnce Gold

Origin also announced a partnership with public charging network JOLT and automaker Audi where the energy firm would provide their customers with “green power” and a range of benefits.

Prior to Origin’s new market entry, its rival AGL introduced a subscription model for EV users in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in 2020 and expanded into Adelaide in 2021.

Meanwhile, Aurora Energy, an energy retailer owned by the Tasmanian government, partnered with the car subscription website Carbar to offer EV subscription packages to the state residents in late 2021.

Australian Consumers Pay More for EVs than in Other Countries

Origin’s announcement comes as a new EV index shows that Australian consumers are charged a premium for EVs compared to other countries with high levels of new-generation vehicle adoption.

The new index launched by the Australian Automobile Association provided a snapshot of EV prices in Australia, the UK, the United States, New Zealand, China, Japan, Norway and Germany.

Overall, many battery and hybrid EV models in Australia were more expensive than those in the United States, Japan, Germany and China, with price differences reaching up to 40 percent when compared with China’s prices.

Norwegian motorists paid less for EVs than their overseas counterparts, as the country reported the lowest prices for eight out of 13 battery EVs in the survey.

In addition, the least expensive EV models in Australia were produced in China by three manufacturers: BYD, MG and Polestar.

Australian Electric Vehicle Association national president Chris Jones said geographical reasons were likely the factor that kept Chinese-made EVs at low prices.

He also said Australian drivers had a growing appetite for Chinese-made EVs.

“The Australian desire to buy a Chinese-made car is growing, and the proximity probably explains the price benefits there for those vehicles,” Jones said in comments obtained by AAP.

According to the Electric Vehicle Council, the number of EVs circulated in Australia surpassed 83,000 by the end of 2022 and was expected to hit 100,000 this year.

While there has been an uptick in EV purchases in recent years, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that 98.2 percent of the 20.1 million registered motor vehicles in Australia in 2021 used petrol or diesel.