It said the industry would be boosted by offering major global manufacturers incentives to set up – especially in Australian regions undergoing a transition from carbon-intensive industries.
The federal government’s Future Fuels Strategy, released last year, identified several opportunities for Australia’s significant reserves of the critical minerals, rare earths and important base metals needed for electric vehicle and battery technologies.
Australia is the world’s biggest producer of lithium and accounts for an estimated 30 per cent of known resources. Most lithium in Australia, however, is exported as spodumene concentrate, rather than refined battery-ready material.
The plan said capturing opportunities in the electric vehicle and battery energy storage supply chain could create 34,700 jobs in Australia by 2030, while global demand for batteries has been forecast to increase tenfold to reach $151 billion by the same year.
The report said Canberra should lead the way with a commitment for public procurement of EVs, aiming for a medium-term target of 50 per cent of government fleets by 2025 and 100 per cent of fleets at all levels of government by 2030.
AMWU National President Andrew Dettmer said a worker-led industrial transformation of the economy with electric vehicle manufacturing at its core would result in an advanced economy founded on economic, social and environmental justice.
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“If the government introduces the right industrial strategy to attract and retain EV manufacturing we can rebuild our national car-making capacity,” he said.
SEA Electric’s Asia-Pacific president Bill Gillespie said Australian industry would need encouragement and leadership to create a viable pathway towards zero-emission truck acquisition, with further work required by all levels of government in showing leadership.
The Melbourne-based automotive technology company recently started 100 per cent Australian volume commercial production of electric trucks.
He said if Australia was planning to meet its 2050 net carbon emissions targets, then more broad-ranging government support would be required to ensure that companies could invest and purchase affordable equipment and that could be aided by a larger domestic manufacturing industry.
Behyad Jafari, the chief executive of the Electric Vehicle Council, said Australia had the opportunity for mass manufacturing of electric vehicles, but it was not something that’s going to “fall into our laps”.
“For years I’ve been speaking to global companies who would be very interested in investing in manufacturing in Australia, but they have been surprised by the relative lack of enthusiasm shown by our government,” he said.
“The nations who will win in this arena will be nations with leaders who go out and actively secure investment and jobs.”
