66% of small businesses consider buying an EV

A survey by Small Business Loans Australia of 210 Australian SME owners and senior SME decision-makers found that over half (51 per cent) would make a purchase by 2024, but just 9 per cent would be ready to purchase this year. Fifteen per cent would go ahead in 2025 or after.

The government’s Electric Car Discount Bill was introduced in Parliament on 27 July 2022 and, if it passes, will exempt some electric vehicle purchases from being liable for fringe benefits tax.

This exemption is applicable only to vehicles below the luxury car tax threshold ($84,916 for 2022–23) and for which employees can also use as personal vehicles.

The scheme, which is designed to encourage fleet owners and employers to replace petrol vehicles with greener alternatives, received praise from many electric vehicle proponents.

But crossbench senators are set to oppose the cuts because they don’t support tax cuts for plug-in hybrid vehicles with petrol engines.

The changes, if passed, could cut the price of some electric vehicles by $4,700 for individuals or up to $9,000 for businesses. Savings would be backdated to July.

The tax cuts would apply to battery electric, hydrogen fuel cell, and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

The Small Business Loans survey found that Victorian businesses would be the most likely to invest in electric vehicles (71 per cent) followed by NSW (68 per cent) and South Australia (67 per cent).

Western Australian and Queensland businesses are least likely to invest in electric vehicles, with 62 per cent and 58 per cent, respectively, saying the bill would motivate them to buy.

Microbusinesses (with up to 10 employees) are least likely to feel incentivised to buy an electric vehicle, with over half (55 per cent) stating that they would not purchase an electric vehicle regardless of the bill.

The survey results also revealed that microbusinesses are more likely to purchase electric vehicles from 2025 onwards. Small businesses with 11–50 employees and medium-sized businesses with 51–200 employees are most likely to acquire these vehicles in 2023, with 46 and 40 per cent of respondents in these categories, respectively, choosing next year as their purchase date.

Sixty-three per cent of those businesses that said they would be motivated to get an EV if the bill passes would consider accessing finance to do so.