Page 32 - Demo

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW 6 ELECTRIC VEHICLE COUNCIL 2020 highlights In 2019, EV sales increased by EV sales accounted for 200% 0.6% with 6,718 EVs sold, of new sales in petrol/diesel vehicle sales Australia in 2019 fell by 7.8% 3,226 EVs sold in the first half of 2020 56% of surveyed consumers would now consider purchasing an electric vehicle as their next car 68% of consumers want governments to provide more public charging infrastructure 68% of consumers want government subsidies to reduce the cost of buying an EV 66% of consumers want government subsidies to reduce the cost of installing home charging equipment 82% of consumers identify public fast charging as “important” FROM PAGE 29 Where do you see the electric vehicle industry over the next few years? It's going to depend on the policy of the government. Internationally, through the policies of the European Union and the respective state governments within the US, there’s a strong promotion of the transition to EVs. As a consequence, the big automotive manufacturers such as Volkswagen and BMW, even Toyota, are really tooling up their EV factories in the EV manufacturing capacity, to meet the policies that have been put in place by these governments. You can really see the change that's happening with the manufacturers. Australia accounts for no more than four per cent of the total automotive market in the world. That means we need not only for those manufacturers to manufacture the car, but also for them to be then allocated to Australia. The allocation of the cars is as important as the making of the cars. All cars made could be shipped to China or throughout Europe, because that's where they're confident they’ll sell because the governments have policies that promote take-up of the cars. In the absence of any meaningful federal government policy, the manufacturers look at us and go, ‘Do I want to take the risk of allocating a large percentage of cars to Australia where there’s no promotion of the take-up of the cars, and they could sit there, languish and not be sold?’ And so, a clear policy position from the federal government is really important here. In the essence of that, we know that the current coalition government isn't inclined to promote the EV take-up at the moment. You look to the state governments to see whether or not they’ll meet the need. The great thing about state governments is they can actually start a process of transitioning their own fleets to electric. And in doing so, they don't have to make big policies about take-up or anything, but, just by their own actions, just by what we’d call the bankable demand of them transitioning their own fleets, this gives the signals to the main fully-automated car manufacturers to feel more confident about making an allocation to us. It’s very much likely to be a tale of 30 CONVENIENCE WORLD SEP/OCT, 2020 ‘State of Electric Vehicles August 2020’ report released by the Electric Vehicle Council. For more information, visit electricvehiclecouncil.com.au. two outcomes: with strong, positive government support, we could see take-up that’s being forecast at half a million cars by 2030; or you could find a situation where, in the absence of any sort of meaningful government policy, the cars will just never be allocated to Australia, so nobody can buy them. Any further comments? I want to stress the importance of the convenience – the amenities at the site are really important. Finding good retail partners is a key priority for us. The charging experience starts with the app on the phone. The app is a platform where we can promote convenience retail sales or the site host. Working with site hosts, we can start the process whereby 10 minutes before the driver arrives at the site, they receive a download for discounted purchases at the store/ restaurant. We're definitely working with some of the site hosts – that's in development and definitely a great win-win situation. Interestingly, in America there was a study done on some EV charging sites, and it looked to what the host received from the relationship. For the EV charging operator, EVgo in America, the average retail spend for the 20 or 30 minutes that the driver was at the site was about $20. It's not like you're on the forecourt of the petrol retail and there's a certain pressure to get off the forecourt so you grab a bottle of water and a chocolate bar. You've got 20 minutes, so you're going to sit down, have a coffee or a meal and avail yourself of the facilities that are there. With EV charging, there’s a great opportunity for the retail experience to commence before the driver arrives on site and continue throughout.