Volkswagen Australia has – once again – put pressure on the government to bring Australia up to speed on the global transition to electric mobility, calling for limits on vehicle CO2 emissions and building codes that require readiness for electric vehicle chargers.

At the Green Building Council of Australia’s (GBCA) Transform 22 Summit, held this week in Sydney,

Volkswagen Australia chief executive Paul Sansom called on both the Australian construction industry and the federal government to “free Australians from traditional EV charging stations” and called for mandatory federally imposed CO2 emissions standards.

It’s been 12 months almost to the day since the German automaker has dubbed Australia a “third world automotive” when it comes to cleaning up traffic – a massive outcry from the company, which itself has blamed for its role in the Dieselgate emissions cheating scandal was fined millions of dollars from 2015.

However, Volkswagen is now the leader in selling plug-in electric vehicles in Europe.

And while EVs from its subsidiary brands Cupra and Skoda have now been confirmed for Australia, and the Audi e-tron and Porsche Taycan are now available in various incarnations, Volkswagen has made it clear that a local launch of its ID electric vehicle line-up was necessary due to the lack of federal ones Vehicle emission standards delayed.

(Sansom’s address hinted at an announcement soon though – stay tuned).

Sansom said at the Green Building Council of Australia’s (GBCA) Transform 22 Summit, held in Sydney this week, on the “particularly Australian barriers to mass uptake” of electric vehicles.

He said it is crucial that EV charging infrastructure is available in buildings, including homes, offices and residential buildings. In the UK, for example, Tory leader Boris Johnson introduced an EV strategy in 2021 that included measures to mandate that new homes and large-scale renovations be made ‘EV-enabled’.

But in Australia there are no such regulations. A Labor proposal ahead of the 2019 general election advocated similar measures but was roundly and misleadingly branded a “housing tax” in a highly cynical panic campaign by Energy Secretary Angus Taylor.

Sansom has now renewed calls for reforms in the construction industry to ensure not only Australia’s vehicles but also its homes are not left behind on the global stage. It is important that a federal building policy is on the table that all federal states can adopt, he says.

Without such rules, residential buildings risk declining in value rather than increasing in value.

“The biggest misconception surrounding electric vehicles in this country remains what is known as ‘range anxiety,'” Sansom said at the GBCA conference on Wednesday. “There is an opportunity – a need – to transform that perception into a reality of convenience and empowerment.

“Most of the time electric vehicles are charged at work or at home, which means that for the first time we are freeing ourselves from the need for traditional ‘filling stations’. The creators of our built environment will enable accessible and efficient charging at home. This will be the biggest enabler for zero emission vehicle ownership.

“Neither new homes nor new apartment buildings will be feasible without easy access to renewable EV charging; nothing more than a home without internet access,” he said. “There is no doubt that the lack of such a facility will negatively affect the value of the property.”

Of particular importance to Sansom was his company’s vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, which he described as “pioneering in accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles in Australia and reducing the national carbon footprint”.

“Our cars will become your personal renewable energy ecosystem by using the car battery to store solar power for domestic use in your homes. The MEB platform on which the Volkswagen Group electric vehicles are built has this technology.”