MTA SA/NT CEO Darrell Jacobs recently presented at the inaugural SA Industry Climate Change Conference, where he discussed a range of topics including:
- The National EV Strategy
- EV sales in Australia
- Diversification of automotive industry training
- Enticing the future workforce of tomorrow
- European examples of their aging vehicle fleet
The following are the comments he made on the subject.
Comments about the National Electric Vehicle Strategy
Without a fuel efficiency standard manufacturers have been prioritising other markets which penalise car brands for not meeting emissions benchmarks.
We are pleased that the government has listened to our calls and not banned the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles.
It was good that Minister Bowen did not announce a hard end date of internal combustion engine vehicles but more of a transition period through the car industry.
There is a recognition – whether it’s hydrogen, plug-in hybrid and hybrid or even more efficient fuels – everything has a role to play in the transition.
The timeline for EV penetration in Australia and the role of hybrids
I want to challenge the audience a bit. I’ve got three numbers I want to share with you. There are 20 million cars on the road today, there are one million new cars sold every year in Australia and electric vehicles are six per cent of these new sales.
So if even if we hypothetically sold 100 per cent electric vehicles each year and we have 20 million cars on the road it is still going to take a little bit of time for EV penetration.
There is a lot to happen in the automotive space in probably the next 10 to 20 years but there is also a lot going on at the moment.
I don’t think we all have to think about EVs as the full solution.
We can think half way and we can think about hybrids as they take out 30 per cent of emissions which is a great start.
There is not a one size fits all solution and Australia can play its part by taking practical steps to transition its vehicle fleet.
It is not always about the total end game and maybe it is about incremental changes.
Diversification of automotive industry training – and enticing the workforce of tomorrow
We always talk to our members that at the end of the day you don’t know what will come in the door. It could be RAV4, it could be an EV, it might be an IONIQ 5, or it might just be a diesel ute so it is important we train a bit of everything.