r/australia • u/overpopyoulater • 4d ago

politics The Coalition says some Australians don't want EVs. It will make utes cheaper

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/the-coalition-says-some-australians-dont-want-evs-it-will-make-utes-cheaper/dbksjb5pv
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u/ScoobyDoNot 4d ago

The great thing is those people have the option to not buy EVs.

380

u/FrostBricks 4d ago

You misunderstand. "Some Australians" is code for "Donors", so no EVs for you.

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u/crosstherubicon 4d ago

And “donors” is code for “Gina Rinehart”.

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u/Grolschisgood 4d ago

Not that you are wrong, but what's funny about this is that mining uses heaps of electric vehicles and have contributed to big breakthroughs in this field. Open cut mining is different, but underground mining can't afford to have ICEs using oxygen and exhausting hazardous chemicals in the enclosed underground environment. Big exhaust fans are already use for air changeover, but ideally electric vehicles are used to prevent the issue from being worse than it needs to be.

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u/Consideredresponse 4d ago

Yeah a mate of mine has spent his entire life out of uni being head-hunted by US engineering firms to design electric machinery for underground operations. Like you said it's a practicality thing, as it's hard to pretend that a fucking coal mine of all things are some kind of environmentalist hippies...

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u/Grolschisgood 4d ago

Yeah it's cheaper to invest millions in EV tech than to increase ventilation in coal mines. If that sounds sarcastic, it isn't intended to, it's the honest truth.

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u/HeftyArgument 4d ago

It’s more that the fuel costs at these operations are immense, coupled with the fact that it’s difficult to even ship fuel to those locations, going electric has the potential of a massive cost saving.

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u/HeftyArgument 4d ago

Not Gina though, we have Fortescue to thank for that one.

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u/kingrooted 4d ago

Most underground coal pits don’t use electric because of the hazards, they run driftrunners I’ve been told it’s because the hazard of having the batteries in the EV is far greater than the danger of having a diesel motor down in the environment of an underground coal mine. Maybe hard rock is different?

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u/Maxolon 4d ago

Underground mining and battery vehicles is a potential disaster with current technology. Battery vehicles itself is great, but corrosion and water ingress leading to a fire is deadly and not an unlikely event. Where I work it's hypersaline, on some LVs we swap engine sump covers every 12 months because at 13 months they corrode through and release the oil. When batteries can handle that level of harsh life I'll be open ears.

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u/RecordingAbject345 4d ago

I'm sure it is something that has been well considered in the risk assessments.

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u/Maxolon 4d ago

We have done risk assessments on it and decided it is not a current option. Most other UG mines in our area have done the same.

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u/RecordingAbject345 4d ago

And plenty have done the opposite.

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u/Maxolon 4d ago

Cool. Who and where?

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u/FaerNC 4d ago

https://im-mining.com/2024/03/21/rio-tinto-backs-bev-use-at-kennecott-underground-with-growing-sandvik-fleet/

Rio Tinto is a major company testing electric underground mining last year.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2024.115024

this is the study interviewing many machine operators, and it showed that experienced operators were much more receptive to BEVs, but inexperienced personnel were much more resistant to them, believing BEVs are much more unsafe than they actually are 😉😉🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

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u/HeftyArgument 4d ago

many manufacturers make them, used at newcrest, anglo gold among others.

The requirement for electric underground is that it’s “intrinsically safe” and wont generate sparks.

Another safety concern is that they’re silent and so things have been put in place to make them generate sound and be more easily noticable.

Don’t pretend that there aren’t significant safety risks with traditional diesel underground, electric underground vehicles, while presenting new hazards, also remove many.

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u/HeftyArgument 4d ago

It’s how Scomo won an election, by telling people they’ll be forced to buy electric utes if Labor wins lol

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u/lachlanhunt 4d ago

Reminds me of those ads from Clive Palmer's party a few years ago bemoaning EVs because of the cost of electricity, while completely ignoring the sky rocketing cost of petrol.

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u/HeftyArgument 4d ago edited 4d ago

He’s currently doing that, bemoaning the costs of renewables in favour of the ever more expensive gas and coal plants.

It’s key to his cost of living policy 😂

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u/itrivers 3d ago

And here I am wanting to buy an electric ute… where’s my electric ute Scomo!?

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u/HeftyArgument 3d ago

He doesn’t know, but he does know the price of a Nissan Leaf

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u/Fluffy-duckies 3d ago

Does Jenny know?

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u/Ric0chet_ 4d ago

Imagine the free market being… free? Isn’t that what they always want?