CANBERRA, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Australia could revive its manufacturing industry by building electric vehicles (EVs), a report published Tuesday showed.
Australia could become a global powerhouse in manufacturing sustainable EVs, said the report, which was published by the Australia Institute, a think tank.
It found that Australia has unique advantages in building EVs such as an existing car manufacturing workforce and rich mineral resources.
"When it comes to creating an EV manufacturing sector, Australia enjoys advantages other nations would die for: rich reserves of lithium and rare earths, strong industrial infrastructure, a highly skilled workforce, powerful training capacity, abundant renewable energy options, and untapped consumer potential," Mark Dean, the lead author, said in a media release.
"And contrary to popular belief, we wouldn't be starting from scratch. Thanks to the resilience of our remaining automotive manufacturing supply chain, a surprising amount of auto manufacturing work -- including components, specialty vehicles, and engineering -- still exists here," Dean said.
The report called for urgent government action to capitalize on the industry's potential including tax incentives for companies involved in the extraction of lithium and rare earths, and for EV manufacturers.
It urged the federal government to establish an EV manufacturing industry commission and introduce procurement laws for the electrification of government vehicle fleets.
Dean said taking action on EVs now would create tens of thousands of jobs, reduce dependence on raw resource extraction, reinforce the accelerating transition toward non-polluting energy sources, and spur innovation, research, and engineering activity in the country. ■