Feature in Tesla rival aims to change Aussie cars forever
Electric vehicle numbers are accelerating in Australia, and one of the latest models heading to our roads is missing one major thing – a back windscreen.
We wanted flying cars but instead we got 140 characters. It's a famous lament about the sometimes painfully slow pace of technological progress. But while fully autonomous cars have taken longer to be unleashed than many mainstream predictions initially expected, major innovations are still heading to Australian roads.
One of those getting attention at the moment is a forthcoming model from Swedish automaker Polestar, which has raised some eyebrows. The electric vehicle maker is releasing a car with one very notable thing missing – a rear window.
Instead cameras are entrusted to allow drivers to see what's behind them, with Laurissa Mirabelli from Polestar Australia admitting "it might take some getting used to having a digital rearview camera instead of a normal mirror, but your visions is 120 degrees".
The cameras project a vision onto a standard rearview mirror, mimicking a traditional car. And if the cameras break, well drivers will have to rely on their side mirrors.
Speaking to 7News, James Wong from carexpert.com.au said it was "definitely the first time we've seen a car completely remove the rear windscreen, at least in terms of your mainstream SUV."
The Polestar 4 is set to be available in Australia in August, starting from around $88,000 for the Long Range Single Motor model which boasts a range of 610km per charge. It comes as Australians are being offered more choices when it comes to switching to an electric vehicle with prices coming down.
Cheapest Electric Vehicle in Australia
One Chinese automaker this week cut thousands of dollars off the cost of the country's cheapest battery-powered vehicle. GWM on Thursday reduced the drive-away price of its Ora electric hatchback to $35,990 setting a new record in the Aussie market and stoking a price war with rivals MG and BYD that also offer electric cars for less than $40,000.
GWM said it dropped the price of its entry-level electric hatchback "on the back of growing sales momentum" in Australia and vowed to push it's EV and hybrid models in Australia.
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MG Motor Australia chief executive Peter Ciao said the company switched to driveway prices to provide greater certainty and lowered costs to underline its support the government's proposed emission rules.
"We are serious about our commitment to support the new vehicle efficiency standard," he said.
Electric Vehicle Council chief executive Behyad Jafari said the car makers' actions showed the federal government's commitment to a fuel-efficiency standard was already making an impact on the market.
"It's always been the promise of fuel-efficiency standards that it will increase choice and bring down the price of those choices as it provides certainty for the entire industry," he said. "This is the latest step in what is essentially a price war."
EV and hybrid vehicles making up one in four new car sales
Almost three in five new vehicles sold in Australia are SUVs as the popularity of the large cars continues to climb amid record vehicle sales. But low-emission vehicle sales are also accelerating in Australia, according to figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) released this week, with electric and hybrid cars making up almost one in every four new cars sold.
The latest vehicle data showed Australians bought more than 109,000 new cars during March – a rise of more than 12,000 vehicles or 12.7 per cent compared to the same month last year. An increasing number of new vehicles were low-emission models, with electric cars making up 9.5 per cent of new cars, and hybrid and plug-in hybrid representing 14 per cent of sales.
It means the federal government and the private sector are pushing to increase the EV infrastructure around the country. For example, Ampol currently operates 86 EV charging bays across 38 sites in Australia, this week it told Yahoo News Australia it has a national commitment to install over 300 charging bays at more than 100 Australian sites by the end of this year.
with AAP
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