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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
PLAN NOW FOR GREEN-TECH, URGES MINISTER A key speaker at the MTA’s recent Industry Advisory Committee was SA’s Minister for Energy and Mining, Dan van Holst Pellekaan. He brings diverse experience to the portfolio, including being an owner/operator of outback roadhouses for seven years and an oil industry executive for a decade. He took the time to speak with Motor Trade about the government’s position on the future of automotive. Q.The Electric Vehicle Action Plan stated that the government wants all new passenger vehicles sold in South Australia to be fully electric by 2035, which is pretty ambitious. As the automotive industry plans for the future, is it reasonable for them to expect this ambition to be realised? A. I think it is. There's no doubt it's ambitious and it's not going to happen just because the state government has that ambition. One of the key drivers will be actual manufacturers’ decisions. There are significant international manufacturers that have said that they won't be producing anything other than electric vehicles from 2030, some from 2035, and some from 2040. I think the ambition will be realised not just because it's our ambition but because it will be what consumers expect. It will be what manufacturers will be offering as well. Q. What is it that you would really like to get across to the motor trade about that the Electric Vehicle Action Plan? A. We are trying to provide some leadership in this and we are trying to get the most for all South Australians out of this opportunity. But we're not trying to tell anybody what they have to have. To your key question, what would I like to have most?
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I would like the motor trade and the broader associated industries to have their eyes wide open and prepare for the change that's coming. I don't want anybody to be caught out in two or 10 years’ time when this change has occurred, because it's starting already and it's only going to pick up pace. So, I want everybody who works in this industry to really take notice of what is coming and prepare themselves for it so that they can get the very most out of it for themselves and their organisations. Q. According to the International Energy Agency, incentives for EVs globally amounted to $19 billion, which is $6400 per EV sold. Do you feel the state government has the right mix of incentives against the proposed road user charge? And should plug-in hybrids also be made eligible? A. Yes, I certainly do but I also acknowledge that this will be any evolving space. It's hardly surprising that manufacturers want as much incentive as possible to be available for people to buy the new models that they're producing. That's perfectly logical. But similarly, it's perfectly logical that a state government needs to adjust a system - which is essentially the
one we've had set for decades and decades of tax on diesel and petrol being used to fund road maintenance. That funding will have to come from somewhere else. Our plan, on a per capita basis, provides more subsidy than the New South Wales and the Victorian plan. Q. Should hybrids be included? A. Well, hybrids are already selling very well. And in fact, we’ve seen hybrids as the mainstay of the taxi industry for well over a decade now. So I don't think that subsidies are needed for hybrids. Subsidies are needed for full electric, zero emission vehicles. So that's where our focus is in that regard. And of course, we're seeing the emergence of fuel cell hydrogen, electric vehicles, and seeing them in government and commercial fleets. Q. So what role do you see hydrogen technology playing going forward? And how does this interface with the EV and hydrogen action plans? A. While we have an EV Action Plan, we are also working incredibly hard at hydrogen in many other ways. South Australia has a fantastic opportunity to be a world leading green hydrogen exporter. And we want the opportunities that hydrogen present to flow through our entire economy.
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