Australia is facing a "once in a thousand years" opportunity to establish a foothold in the global supply chain of the electric vehicle industry.
The Australian auto industry can correct mistakes with electric cars - 1
Hummer EV electric vehicle at GM's ZERO factory in Detroit (USA). With GM still having old factories and supply systems in Australia, the transformation into an electric vehicle production center is entirely possible (Image: REX/Shutterstock).
Once one of 13 rare countries in the world with a complete auto industry from design to production, but from 2017 to now, Australia has mainly imported cars to serve domestic needs. By the end of 2017, most automakers had closed car factories here and Australia became the second member of the G20, after Saudi Arabia, to have no auto industry.
However, Australia can revive the auto industry in an eco-friendly way, by harnessing its rich mineral resources to produce electric vehicles.
That is the plan laid out in the report titled Reconstructing the Automotive Industry in Australia by the Carmichael Center of the Australian Academy. Accordingly, there are still 34,258 employees working in the automobile industry; In particular, the production of parts for the global supply chain and many parts of the old car factories are still in good condition, so Australia is well equipped to revive the auto industry.
Even in the event that Australia cannot restore the auto industry to close the electric vehicle production cycle, there is still an opportunity to participate in the global automotive supply chain, such as battery production.
Australia is ramping up production of lithium and several other key minerals needed to make batteries and other electronic parts for global electrification.
In 2017, Australia's spodumene (raw lithium) mining was worth A$1.1 billion ($790 million), but processing it into raw materials and then producing batteries could create an industry. industry worth $22.1 billion ($15.8 billion).
The Australian auto industry collapsed in 2017 due to an overvalued local currency. The cause is the explosion of mining activities as well as political problems.
The report's lead author, Dr Mark Dean, said a fresh electric vehicle industry might not be the panacea to all of Australia's problems, but would create a new, high-tech industry. will make the transition easier, by spreading the benefits.
"For decades, the auto industry has served as the glue that holds communities together. It ensures security and a good standard of living," said Mr. Dean. "There needs to be people mining resources, processing them so that they can be used for production; everyone involved in that process benefits."
The report argues that a committee comprising representatives from government, business and trade unions should be established to map out a roadmap for the development of the electric vehicle industry in Australia. According to the same report, any new industry needs to be developed based on renewable energy sources, clear supporting policies, including fuel efficiency and effort standards. to attract large auto businesses.
Mr. Andrew Dettmer, president of the Union of Australian Manufacturing Industry, said that electric vehicle production was a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" for Australia to create sustainable jobs, innovate and control pollution.
Although electric vehicles have fewer spare parts than internal combustion engine vehicles, they are more technologically complex, so there are job opportunities in this high-tech industry. However, any transformation takes time, as the lifecycle of a car product means that what we do today will take about 15 years to reflect on the market. However, the authors of the above report say that there is an urgent need to invest in electric vehicles now.
According to Behyad Jafari, a representative of the Electric Vehicle Council of Australia, the country has absolutely an opportunity to produce electric vehicles on a large scale, but he warned that it takes effort, but things will not come naturally.
With increasing consumer interest and electric vehicle sales in Australia having tripled in the past two years, the biggest challenge facing the auto industry right now is supply.
“Currently sales are around 1 million vehicles per year and we have the potential to have up to 19 million vehicles in circulation that could be converted to EVs,” said Jafari. "We know that when someone buys a car it will last about 15 years. If we aim to bring emissions to zero within the next decade, then we have to get rid of petrol and diesel cars. Making EVs means we can ensure that we have a ready supply of electric vehicles for the domestic market, thereby giving a big boost to the market as a whole."
Mr. Bill Gillespie, chairman of SEA Electric, an Australian company specializing in manufacturing and converting trucks and buses into electric vehicles, said that while governments from other countries