Australia’s Capital Territory — the region surrounding Canberra and home to the national government — has announced a ban on the sale of new internal combustion engine cars, motorcycles, and light trucks beginning in 2035 C.E. The policy makes the ACT the first Australian state or territory to set a firm end date for new fossil-fuel vehicle sales, and it arrives alongside a package of incentives designed to accelerate the shift well before that deadline.
At a glance
- ICE vehicle ban: From 2035 C.E., new internal combustion engine cars, motorcycles, and small trucks will no longer be registered on ACT roads — though existing petrol and diesel vehicles may remain in use.
- Zero-emission target: The ACT government wants at least 80% of new light vehicles sold in the territory to be zero-emission models by 2030 C.E., a stepping-stone to the full ban.
- EV incentives: Interest-free loans of up to $15,000 Australian dollars are already available to ACT buyers of electric vehicles, and EV owners — including buyers of used electric cars — will be exempt from vehicle registration fees for two years.
A sharp policy reversal
The announcement signals a dramatic change in direction for Australian climate and transport policy. Under the previous federal government, electric vehicles were politically controversial and national support for the transition was limited. The ACT’s new Minister for Emissions Reduction, Shane Rattenbury, framed the 2035 target not as an overnight disruption but as a long-range signal the government wants residents and industry to hear clearly.
“We’re trying to signal where we are going very early so that people have a clear understanding of where the future lies,” Rattenbury said. He was also careful to clarify that the ban applies to new vehicles only. “The government does not intend to take your car off the road if you’re driving around in an all-petrol vehicle.”
That measured framing matters. Policies that feel confiscatory tend to generate backlash; policies that set a future boundary while protecting existing owners have a stronger track record of building durable public support.
Federal momentum behind the territory’s move
The ACT’s announcement did not arrive in isolation. At the federal level, newly elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese moved quickly to reduce the cost of going electric. New electric vehicles became exempt from Australia’s 5% import tariff, and EVs were also exempted from the fringe benefits tax — a change that encourages employers to offer electric cars as part of employee compensation packages. On a $50,000 Australian dollar vehicle, that tax exemption represents savings of up to $8,700.
The federal government also committed $39.3 million Australian dollars to expand Australia’s fast-charging network. The plan places fast chargers at roughly 93-mile (150-kilometer) intervals along major highways, including routes crossing large stretches of remote and regional Australia — addressing one of the most practical concerns about EV adoption in a country where long distances between cities are the norm.
“Imagine a future where you don’t have to worry about petrol bills,” Albanese said at a gathering in Perth. “We can get there, but we need government to build the foundation for it.”
Why the ACT’s move could ripple outward
Capital cities and their surrounding territories often function as policy laboratories. When a jurisdiction with high visibility and a concentrated professional class demonstrates that an EV transition is manageable, neighboring states face less political risk in following. The ACT is widely expected to encourage similar commitments from other Australian states, though none had announced matching bans at the time of the policy’s release.
The territory already had one of Australia’s higher rates of EV adoption relative to its population, partly because the interest-free loan program had been running for some time before the 2035 ban was announced. That existing infrastructure — financial, political, and physical — gave policymakers confidence that a firm end date was achievable rather than aspirational.
Globally, the ACT joins a growing list of jurisdictions that have set binding or target dates for ending new ICE vehicle sales, including the United Kingdom, British Columbia, and several European nations. The International Energy Agency’s Global EV Outlook has noted that policy certainty — knowing a deadline exists — is one of the strongest drivers of both consumer uptake and automaker investment in EV platforms.
Limits and open questions
The policy is not without gaps. Full details of how the 2035 ban will be enforced and whether exemptions will apply to certain vehicle categories had not been finalized at the time of the announcement. Rural and lower-income households — for whom upfront EV costs remain a barrier even with interest-free loans — will need continued support as the transition accelerates.
The ACT is also a relatively small and wealthy jurisdiction. Replicating its policy in larger Australian states with more dispersed populations, longer freight routes, and lower average household incomes will require solutions the ACT’s relatively compact geography has not yet had to answer. Australia’s Clean Energy Council has pointed to charging infrastructure in regional areas as the single largest practical gap remaining.
Still, the direction is unmistakable. A territory that sits at the center of Australian political life has put a date on the end of the fossil-fuel car — and backed it with loans, registration breaks, and a federal government willing to reduce the cost of making the switch. The question for the rest of Australia is no longer whether the transition is coming, but how quickly each state will move to shape it on their own terms.
For context on the broader energy shift underway, the International Renewable Energy Agency has documented how falling renewable costs are making the clean-energy foundation for EV adoption more affordable every year.
Read more
For more on this story, see: CleanTechnica — ACT first state in Australia to ban conventional cars
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Renewables now make up at least 49% of global power capacity
- U.K. cancer death rates down to their lowest level on record
- The Good News for Humankind archive on Australia
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