Swedish electric car firm Uniti, which wants to assemble its EVs in Adelaide, is seeking incentives to encourage the switch to green vehicles.
It told a senate select committee enquiry into EVs to investigate tax and financial incentives for companies investing in local EV production, plus disincentives for imported diesel and petrol vehicles.
Uniti aims to partner with a leading vehicle design and assembly company in Adelaide to produce its Uniti One car, a $23,300 two-seater with a 300km range, The Australian reports.
Predicting “a collapse of individual vehicle ownership in urban centres in Australia within a decade”, Uniti intends selling under a car-sharing model,
It suggests financial penalties for imported petrol and diesel cars should eventually be raised “to a rate equal to their full cost on society”.
The company says internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles are “obsolete and inefficient”, and represent a huge cost on consumers and the nation.
Uniti wants a scheme to pay motorists so their ICE vehicles can be permanently removed from the road.
Describing its plan as a “national economic transformation project”, Uniti reckons it would jump-start the domestic vehicle industry and revolutionise the transport sector.
“New advanced manufacturing processes, lightweight materials and new vehicle designs have led to a dramatic reduction in the costs of assembling vehicles,” it says.
“This means commercial-scale vehicle assembly will return to Australia and the vehicles will be fully electric, lightweight, and made available to people in urban centres on a ‘mobility as a service’ basis.”
It could invest in an Australian assembly plant even without the requested measures.
Senate enquiry chairman Tim Storer is keen on Uniti’s plan.
“We have all the human and natural resources needed to foster electric vehicle industries here in Australia, and Uniti’s announcement is proof that there is genuine international interest in what we have to offer.”
New Zealand is considering a “feebate” scheme which could also encourage EV uptake while providing disincentives for ICE vehicles.
