Victorians to test electric cars

Almost 200 Victorian households will be invited to take part in the state's first electric car trial as part of a futuristic plan to slash greenhouse emissions.

Candidates will soon be able to register online to drive an electric vehicle free of charge for three months as part of a $5 million trial.

The five-year road test will involve about 60 vehicles, including passenger cars, light commercial carriers and motorbikes.

About 180 households will be able to take part through an online ballot organised by trial partner, peak motoring body the RACV.

Car manufacturers, recharge providers and retailers are also vying to take part in the trial, with 76 companies expressing interest.

Commercial participants will be selected in September, with the public ballot to be held shortly after.

The government anticipates rotating vehicles and chargers between households so they can trial different technologies.

The cars will be free, but users recharging at home will have to pick up the electricity bill, which is expected to be less than the cost of running a standard petrol car.

Mitsubishi has been named a vehicle supplier, with 20 electric cars rolling off the dock at Port Melbourne on Thursday in Australia's first commercial shipment of electric cars.

Premier John Brumby hailed the arrival a historic day in Victoria's push to cut carbon emissions, adding that the trial would be the most comprehensive in the world.

He said electric and hybrid cars would play a big role in the state achieving a 20 per cent carbon reduction target by 2020, with transport contributing about one fifth of emissions.

"You can't get the big cuts in carbon emissions without seeing big cuts in transport, and the simple way of achieving big cuts in transport is to move to the new technologies," he said.

But with a price tag of about $68,000 for a Mitsubishi electric car, the take-up could be slow.

RACV public policy general manager Brian Negus said the cost would come down as the technology improved and more electric cars hit the road.

It would take about 10 years to break even through savings on petrol and running costs compared with a standard sedan, he said.

Mr Negus said there were also plans in place for a battery lease plan, similar to those for mobile phones, in which the user would pay per kilometre rather than upfront, shaving about $10,000 off the purchase price.

Mr Brumby said he expected to see a "rapid uptake" of electric cars in the years ahead.

"In many ways they're going to be like the story of other technologies, of laptop computers and mobile phones.

"The improvements in the technology, I think, will be so rapid in the years ahead, with the battery capacity, the performance, the engineering - all of those things."

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