Is Bill Shorten in the driver's seat or just an electric dreamer?

On the eve of the federal budget, Labor unveiled a new electric vehicle policy that has never been tested before in this country.

SEA Electric test driver Graeme Cook at a Dandenong
South factory where the company makes electric trucks
 and buses.

If elected, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has promised that 50 per cent of new car sales would be electric by 2030.

The pre-election pitch is being sold as a way to help achieve Labor's emissions reduction target of 45 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030, and an opportunity to kickstart an electric vehicle manufacturing industry.

But it raises questions about the future cost of cars, how the fuel excise will be replaced and whether boosting electric cars is the right solution to a pressing global problem.

Read the story from The Age by Timna Jacks - “Is Bill Shorten in the driver's seat or just an electric dreamer?”