Angus Taylor: “I’m not driving an electric car”

The Driven

Federal energy and emissions reduction minister says he will not drive an electric vehicle, telling a radio interview on Monday that he requires a large fossil-fuelled SUV to cover the large distances he travels each year.

Asked by 3AW’s Neil Mitchell about whether he drove an electric vehicle, Taylor gave an emphatic answer.

“I’m not driving an electric car,” Taylor said. “I live in regional New South Wales and drive huge distances each year – 60,000 or 70,000 kilometres. So, I need something that can handle the hard roads and the distances.”

Taylor told Mitchell that he drove a five-cylinder, 3.2 litre, Ford Everest.

According to the Green Vehicle Guide, the latest 3.2 litre Ford Everest models have an average fuel consumption of around 8.5 litres per 100 kilometres driven and tailpipe emissions of up to 224 grams per kilometre.

This would suggest Taylor’s personal greenhouse gas emissions from driving his own car sit somewhere between 13 and 16 tonnes per year. That’s roughly the equivalent of Australia’s per capita emissions – and that’s just from driving the Ford Everest.

The comments came on the same day as Taylor unveiled a $2.3 billion subsidy package for Australian fuel refineries, designed to keep the refineries open for at least the next decade.

To read more of this story, please click here to go to the original at our EV sister site, The Driven.