The war in Iran has kicked off the 'largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market', and it's also drawn attention to something invisible to most Australians \u2014 we use a lot of diesel to keep this country running.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We crunched the numbers, and per capita, Australians use almost twice as much diesel as the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From mining to growing food, diesel is needed in all economic sectors. There are only about 27 million of us, but living on this vast continent, it's unsurprising that transporting goods swallows the biggest portion of the fuel. The impact of the war was felt immediately; builders complained about delivery prices, and groceries became more expensive.<\/p>\n
We currently have 36 days of diesel in the national stockpile, but the government is spending big to increase that number.<\/p>\n
This year's federal budget included an $11.9 billion National Fuel Security Plan; $3.2 billion of that is to physically stockpile diesel and jet fuel.<\/p>\n
The billion-dollar fuel security package aims to increase Australia's fuel reserves to last for 50 days.<\/p>\n
But what if instead we worked out how to use less diesel?<\/p>\n
Frances Vierboom, chief executive of non-profit renewable advocacy group Rewiring Australia, said Australia had an obvious problem.<\/p>\n
"Australia has a fuel crisis because so many of its machines still rely on fossil fuels," he said.<\/p>\n
"The long-term fix for this, where we won't have inflation built into all our groceries, where we aren't beholden to whatever's happening around the globe, is if we run on Australian-made electricity.<\/p>\n
"What we need to do is think about how at each moment that a fossil fuel machine breaks down, we end up replacing it with an electric one."<\/p>\n
Yet electrification of our trucking industry didn't get much of a look in. The only measure in the fuel security plan was $40 million allocated to electrifying Australia Post's delivery fleet, not even 1 per cent of the total package.<\/p>\n
Aside from the fuel security plan, a tax break to encourage the electrification of passenger cars has so far cost the government $3.35 billion in revenue and will cost another $2.8 billion by the 2028-2029 financial year.<\/p>\n
And there is a groundswell in Australia. A year ago, electric vehicles (EVs) made up just 7.5 per cent of new car sales. In May this year, that figure hit a record high of 23 per cent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We will still need liquid fuels for a long time. But how hard is it to electrify our transport and freight?<\/p>\n