Australia might emerge as a worldwide electrical car manufacturing ‘powerhouse’, if solely it might entice federal authorities help for the thought, and if rising EV leaders might make the most of Australia’s pure aggressive edge in new supplies and applied sciences.
New analysis from The Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, finds Australia has a possibility to revitalise its automobile manufacturing industries, creating tens of hundreds of high-quality manufacturing jobs.
It might do that by benefiting from Australia’s pure abundance of EV supplies, vital clear power assets and present manufacturing expertise base.
“In terms of creating an EV manufacturing sector, Australia enjoys benefits different nations would die for: wealthy reserves of lithium and uncommon earth minerals, sturdy industrial infrastructure, a extremely expert workforce, highly effective coaching capability, plentiful renewable power choices, and untapped client potential,” Dr Mark Dean, the report’s lead writer, mentioned.
“And opposite to fashionable perception, we wouldn’t be ranging from scratch. Due to the resilience of our remaining automotive manufacturing provide chain, a stunning quantity of auto manufacturing work – together with elements, specialty automobiles, and engineering – nonetheless exists right here.”
The brand new report from the assume tank, titled, Rebuilding Automobile Manufacturing in Australia: Industrial Alternatives in an Electrified Future, finds that proactive authorities help for an electrical car trade would possible be crucial to any such trade getting a foothold in Australia.
With the Morrison government having been antagonistic towards electric vehicles and the accelerating shift from petrol-fuelled to electrical transport, Australia has suffered from an absence of nationwide coverage and coordination on constructing its electrical car trade.
Australia lags behind many worldwide friends on electrical car uptake due partly to the dearth of help at a nationwide stage and the Centre for Future Work’s report says nationwide coordination might be key to not solely supporting electrical car uptake but in addition supporting Australia’s assets sector to make the most of surging demand for brand new supplies.
“Therefore the problem dealing with Australia’s choices about its industrial future is in the end one in every of ethical values and political will. Australia can select to pursue a renewed industrial future through an EV trade and its environmentally and socially transformative potential,” the report says.
“This may each handle our local weather change duties and revive our sturdy industrial historical past, by making us a number one renewable power and industrial innovator.”
For an electrical car manufacturing trade to achieve success in Australia, it might require authorities help, resembling utilizing tax incentives to increase Australia’s manufacturing of key minerals and attracting worldwide car producers to determine a producing base in Australia.
Authorities throughout all ranges even have vital shopping for energy that might be used to underpin early demand for electrical automobiles, resembling mandating a transition of presidency car fleets to electrical fashions.
“No nation builds a significant trade with out its authorities taking a proactive function. Our new analysis reveals there’s no excuse for inaction as a result of there are an enormous vary of highly effective levers our authorities might be pulling,” Dean added.
“If we seize the second, we’ll seize plentiful advantages: creating tens of hundreds of regional manufacturing jobs, decreasing our dependence on uncooked useful resource extraction, reinforcing our accelerating transition towards non-polluting power sources, and spurring innovation, analysis, and engineering exercise in Australia. We simply want our authorities to behave.”
Of their latest evaluation of worldwide clear power funding, BloombergNEF discovered the electrical car trade is experiencing gorgeous development – with international funding growing to US$273 billion (A$385 billion) in 2021, an enormous 77 per cent enhance on the earlier 12 months.
By means of its report, the Centre for Future Work makes a sequence of suggestions for the way Australia can guarantee it advantages from this rising financial alternative, together with calling for the institution of a devoted ‘EV manufacturing trade fee’ to undertake an inquiry into Australia’s PV potential, and guaranteeing any EV trade is powered by low price provides of unpolluted power.
The report additionally requires Australia to increase its skill to ‘value-add’ the uncooked supplies which Australia has an abundance of, resembling provides of lithium and uncommon earth minerals, to seize the elevated worth of processed supplies which will in any other case be exported of their uncooked kind.
“Therefore the problem dealing with Australia’s choices about its industrial future is in the end one in every of ethical values and political will. Australia can select to pursue a renewed industrial future through an EV trade and its environmentally and socially transformative potential,” the report says.
“This may each handle our local weather change duties and revive our sturdy industrial historical past, by making us a number one renewable power and industrial innovator.”
Michael Mazengarb is a journalist with RenewEconomy, primarily based in Sydney. Earlier than becoming a member of RenewEconomy, Michael labored within the renewable power sector for greater than a decade.
