A large Australian bank announced this week that it will stop funding loans for new gas and diesel cars in 2025 to encourage the shift to electric vehicles.
“We think that the responsible thing for us to do next is to ensure that our vehicle lending doesn’t lock our customers into higher carbon emissions and increasingly expensive running costs in the years ahead,” Bank Australia Chief Impact Officer Sasha Courville said in a statement on Friday, Fox Business reports.
“Ultimately, our announcement today is the beginning of a conversation with our customers and a signal to the wider market that if you’re considering buying a new car, you should think seriously about an electric vehicle – both for its impact on the climate and for its lifetime cost savings.”
The US market is prey to these ideas and we hope they don’t do it here.
The Electric Vehicle Council reported earlier this year that 20,665 electric vehicles would be sold in 2021, representing about 2% of the market in the country for all cars.
Electric vehicles cannot take the place of gasoline engines any time soon.
The Aussie bank will offer loans for second-hand gasoline cars until the EV market is viable.
“While we will cease car loans for new fossil fuel cars from 2025, we are deeply aware that we need to support people not yet able to afford an electric vehicle while the market grows,” Courville said.
According to News Australia, “By ceasing car loans for new fossil fuel vehicles, we are sending a signal to the Australian market about the rapid acceleration in the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles we expect to see in the next few years,” the bank’s chief impact officer Sasha Courville said.
We have governments in parts of the world trying to eliminate most fossil fuels by 2030 or 2035 and corporations like this one backing them up. So far, this bank stands alone, but it could proliferate. It reminds us of banks that won’t loan to gun manufacturers and dealers. These are corporations changing our behaviors to conform to their views.
In general, they speak with one voice, with government leaders and the media backing up most of it. Let the Aussie bank serve as a warning.
Louder with Crowder wrote on his blog, “In a perfect free-market world, a rival bank would start offering loans stating that they have no intention of controlling your decisions and how you live your life. I kinda don’t see that happening here.”
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