Electric vehicles hold the key to reviving Australia’s automotive industry, according to Tesla chair Robyn Denholm, writes Gavin Dennett.
With a high global demand for batteries as the shift from petrol and diesel cars to EVs gathers pace, Australia’s abundance of raw materials offers a unique opportunity for a new vehicle manufacturing industry to take shape.
Australia once had a proud automotive industry, with major assembly lines employing thousands of workers between the late-1940s and 2010s.
But gradually local manufacturing plants closed as international car makers withdrew from the Australian market, or transitioned to imported vehicles.
The likes of Chrysler and Nissan departed the locally produced market, in 1980 and 1992 respectively.
Then the Australian industry was brought to its knees with the closure of the Mitsubishi plant in South Australia in 2008, followed by Ford closing in 2016, and Holden and Toyota both departing in 2017.
However, Australian tech executive Denholm recently told the National Press Club in Canberra that the manufacturing of EVs in Australia could kick-start the local car industry into a new era of prosperity.
“Australia is in a unique position because we have the minerals here that other countries don’t have,” she said.
“The supply chains for the electric vehicle and lithium-ion storage batteries that are key for renewable energy are being formed now.
“I think it’s a unique opportunity.”
Denholm believes the creation of Australia’s EV manufacturing industry could be achieved without government subsidies.
“The private sector and government need to work together,” she said.
“I don’t think incentives are required because most businesspeople will see the exponential growth in those minerals.
“But the time to act on that is now.”