GoGet joins EV Trial

THE Victorian government has announced a new leg to its innovative electric vehicle trial in conjunction with the GoGet car-share company.

Under the new partnership, the state government will help co-fund putting up to 10 GoGet vehicles into various sites around the Melbourne central business district.

The idea is to learn more about the viability of car sharing in the congested centre of Melbourne at the same time that the Victorian planning and community development department is working on plans to increase the population density in the centre of Melbourne.

The government this week announced plans to extend the city centre past the recently established Docklands precinct and out into Fisherman’s Bend, which was re-zoned this week to allow re-development as an extension of the CBD.

“The department of transport believes electric vehicles will be a mainstream vehicle choice by 2020,” parliamentary secretary for transport Ed O’Donohue told the fourth Australian Electric Vehicle Conference in Melbourne today.



Left: Parliamentary secretary to the department of transport Ed O'Donohue.

“However, the take-up will be dependent on oil prices, the purchase prices of vehicles and the availability of public recharging infrastructure.

“None of these are in the realms of government to solve.”The partnership with GoGet will see the first car and associated recharging equipment installed at the Alto Hotel on Bourke Street, where it will be available to hotel guests.

“The Victorian government wants to be the leader in electric vehicle technology,” said Mr O’Donohue.

“As car charging infrastructure rolls out, there will be more opportunities for electric vehicles.”“The project with GoGet is a great concept, particularly as the CBD densifies, and it matches many of the policy statements and actions the minister for planning, Matthew Guy, is making.”Mr O’Donohue said the GoGet project was an adjunct to the EV Trial, which has until now predominantly been about residential EV use.

He said the current trial had highlighted three main hurdles holding up the adoption of EVs.

These were the purchase prices of the vehicles, the fact that driving range is still a concern for many people, and the slow take-up by fleets, which are concerned about the high start-up costs.