Tim Storer: South Australia must seize chance to become a world leader in electric vehicle production

SOUTH Australia must seize the chance to return to automotive manufacturing by becoming a world leader in the production of electric vehicles, writes Tim Storer.

SANJEEV Gupta may not play for Port or the Crows, but in recent months his name has gained a prominence in Adelaide akin to Travis Boak or Tex Walker and he hasn’t even had a hamstring problem.

That may be something of an exaggeration, but the British billionaire has been lauded as Whyalla’s saviour, for his plans to create the renewable energy to fuel the steel plant – and much more.

He has also declared his desire to make Adelaide a centre for motor vehicle manufacture once more, this time with the production of electric vehicles.

It is less than a year since Holden ceased operations in South Austalia, but that does not mean the expertise to build cars has left the state as well. It is clearly that expertise that Mr Gupta would like to tap.

He may have had his bid to buy some of Holden’s Elizabeth plant rebuffed, but that does not mean South Australia is out of the game, although the clock is ticking.

Make no mistake the EV revolution is the biggest disruption to personal transport since the advent of the internal combustion engine. We by no means fully understand the extent to which this revolution will transform the way we live our lives.

Adelaide is the perfect test bed for EV technologies.

Not only is it a well-planned grid city with a world class data network, but it also has a highly skilled workforce, a world class university sector and a history of advanced manufacturing. Bloomberg predicts that EVs will be cheaper to buy than conventional cars in less than ten years and make up more than 50 per cent of all car sales globally by 2040, barely two decades from now.

The danger is that without action Australia in general, and SA in particular, will be left behind in yet another round of global disruption – that we will again be held hostage to international development rather than reaping the benefits of helping engineer the change.

However, developing the preconditions for investment will not occur without much more support from government, national, state and local, to underpin an industry that has the scale to give Mr Gupta or other entrepreneurs the confidence to risk their money.

Within SA there should be immediate tax and other incentives to encourage state and local government to give preference to EVs in their vehicle fleets.

At the federal level, EVs should be exempt from FBT, tax concessions should be offered for EV or EV component manufacturers, fuel efficiency standards for light vehicles should be enhanced and the Automotive Transformation Scheme should be refocused to support EV start-ups.

It’s time to bring car manufacturing jobs back to South Australia.

TIM STORER IS INDEPENDENT SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA