‘Confusing’ is a good word to describe this government’s approach in tackling the electrification of

transport. Like in many other policy areas, such as in good governance and tackling corruption, this attitude has led to nothing more than promises to provide near-future strategy papers in the area of tackling climate change.

Last November Michael Farrugia, then energy minister, declared the installation of 130 charging bays for electric cars by the middle of 2021. A proposition that is two years behind schedule. A commitment was made by Aaron Farrugia to give a cut-off date for internal combustion engines (the date by when petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles would no longer be allowed to be imported) by the end of 2020. That date also slipped with not a word being uttered by the minister.

In December 2019, Malta declared to EU partners its ambition to reach 14 per cent transport electrification by 2030, yet, figures suggest that they are underperforming. Within the past two years, the licensing of ICE vehicles continued to grow 10 times faster in comparison to the uptake of electric vehicle (EV) and hybrid counterparts.  EV and hybrid vehicles account for only 1.3 per cent of all Maltese licensed vehicles, where total electrification is growing at a rate of around 0.4 per cent per year.

In order to reach our climate change mitigation commitments, and to completely decarbonise Malta by 2050, a clear political signal is required in support of incentives that boost EV uptake, increase renewable energy production and prepare our educational and business sectors for this transition today.

Spurring green energy growth and transport electrification are two sides of the same coin and much of this government’s approach maintains the current barriers for an exponential uptake of EV and hybrid vehicles.

On the one side of the coin, there should be proper incentives/legislation to push private car park owners to have charging pillars installed as well as to repurpose the open space above parking areas with the installation of solar modules and storage infrastructure.

EV and hybrid vehicles account for only 1.3% of all Maltese licensed vehicles

The government also ignored the importance of installing fast-charging stations to reduce EV/plug-in hybrid charging-times to match the practicality of petrol/diesel fuelling.

Thirdly, charging stations should be designed to match the energy consumed by EVs with solar modules that produce green renewable energy.

In parallel, the government should assist Enemalta with

the creation of green-energy purchase agreements for private domiciles and businesses (including parking garage owners), to allow the environmentally conscious to buy renewable energy instead of gas-fired energy when charging their EVs. 

On the other side of the coin, the government should also offer a 100 per cent tax rebate to private enterprises when they buy private EV vehicles for their staff. This would drastically increase the uptake of EVs as businesses can currently claim only about 30 per cent of the cost of such vehicles.

Secondly, to reduce particulate matter pollution in Gozo, it would be good to introduce lower tariff rates for EV vehicles travelling to and from Gozo.

Thirdly, as a stopgap measure, the government should allow heavily discounted LPG pumps to be installed at fuel stations for persons unwilling to take the plunge. With high LPG prices and with a shallow uptake of EV vehicles, radically reducing the price of LPG, in accordance with a transparent road decarbonisation strategy, would further reduce the uptake of petrol and diesel ICE vehicles.

Fourthly, the government must work with public transport operators to set a target for the full electrification of public transport by latest 2035. The government has failed to prepare the workforce for this transition and should be assisting MCAST and other colleges in preparing the next generation of EV mechanics and solar PV technicians and engineers.

Ultimately, fostering a circular transport and energy environment will take a lot of planning and political will to realise. Yet,  the above approaches are just a drop in the ocean concerning the numerous possibilities this government could take to decarbonise the Maltese islands.

The government’s inability to identify even the most common synergies between transport and energy worries me greatly. If Malta is ever to truly reach its climate change commitments, it is clear that the lack of strategy and direction, as well as the government’s fear of being seen as incompetent, undermine effective policy creation and suppresses the drive needed to push us towards a clean, healthy and sustainable future.

All I can say is that, while this government has become an expert in the art of stalling progress, there are those who have made serious plans to realise effective decarbonisation in Malta by 2050.

David Thake, Nationalist MP