The WA government will officially close its electric vehicle rebate scheme at midnight on May 10. The scheme gave buyers a $3,500 rebate when making the switch.

The Zero Emissions Rebate Scheme was introduced in 2022 to encourage the uptake of zero emission vehicles.

The initiative was popular, with The Department of Transport recording a 692 per cent increase of EVs on WA roads between December 2021 and December 2024.

David Scott, managing director of BrewHub, owns a Tesla, and says the subsidies provided at a national and state level were ultimately what drove him to purchase an EV.

“I originally identified this naturally aspirated Volvo, and the guy at the leasing company came to me and said, “do you know about the subsidy arrangements that are currently in place?”. He said it essentially makes the cost of your Tesla reduced by a lot, and that was the majority of the decision for buying the car actually,” Mr Scott says.

“So, there was the $3,500 state government rebate, but the federal government also allowed some finance structuring for electric vehicles, which allowed you to pay for a full EV from pre-tax dollars, and the state funding for the charging infrastructure as well.”

While the scheme was widely adopted, industry experts say the initiative may not be necessary anymore.

Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University Peter Newman says the rebate helped jumpstart the transition to EVs but may no longer be needed for smaller vehicles.

“There are so many very cheap electric vehicles now coming from China that it’s less important than it was at the beginning,” he says.

“Governments need to step in, but they don’t need to remain there if the market is competitive.”

Chris Jones, President of the Australian Electric Vehicle Association, echoed this view.

“I think most EV buyers accept that a financial rebate for purchasing a new EV can’t last forever, and this scheme has already been extended to May 10th or 15,000 vehicles, whichever comes first. The rebates have done their job,” he says.

Mr Jones also argues the subsidy may have come too late to make a meaningful dent in the cost barrier and would have had more of an impact five to ten years ago.

“I think these rebates would have had the most impact back when EVs were expensive and hard to access. There are some very compelling EVs on the market for a quarter of what the original EVs sold for, back in the 2010s.”

While subsidies have been rolled out at national and state levels across the country, both Mr Jones and Professor Newman agree further investment into EV infrastructure is needed to continue the transition to cleaner transport alternatives.

Professor Newman says fast-charging networks and incentives for commercial and heavy-duty electric vehicles are areas within the market that are not yet self-sustaining, and could use further government support.

“Larger electric vehicles are still needing help in this transition, and the electric battery industry has been less able to provide enough range for those bigger vehicles, but it’s getting more and more relevant to accommodate their needs,” he says.

As WA phases out the rebate, the state government is turning its focus to charging infrastructure, co-funding up to 50 per cent of the cost of EV charging installations for not-for-profits, small-to-medium businesses, and local government authorities.

Mr Jones says this is the next step in the transition.

“Western Australia still needs to use public funds to install public and workplace charging infrastructure. Reliable charging has an outsized impact on people’s buying decisions, so it’s worth getting that piece of the puzzle right,” he says.

Mr Scott, who charges his Tesla at home entirely from rooftop solar, says once the vehicle is purchased, running costs are virtually next to nothing.

“The cars run off 100% solar energy. I’ve never charged it off grid electricity,” Mr Scott says.

“A couple of times a week for a few hours, you just plug it in, and you’re done. It’s so easy. And there’s no fuel or servicing. It’s just tires and wiper blades.”

Mr Scott says with incentives such as co-funding fast chargers, he’s been able to install EV charges at his business’ workplace also.

With the transition to sustainable transport slowly gaining popularity in the metropolitan area, not all industries can transition as easily.

“There’s still a lot to do to make electric vehicles more competitive in some areas like mining, such as the vehicles that are needed for agricultural purposes like trucks,” Professor Newman says.

“The trucking fleets are still not competitive but small electric vehicles now are.”

With just over 25,000 zero emission vehicles now on WA roads, according to the Department of Transport, the state’s shift toward electric transport continues, even as challenges remain in reaching industries like mining and agriculture.