Found this chestnut the other day. Was going to post it before the election but didn't want to give a leg-up to the dumbarse LNP in any way. This is an oldy but a goody in that it reinforces my disdain for the major parties both the coalition and labor as the national sellout parties.
Basically in 2010 the labor party favoured an imported dinky EV from a foreign car company that sucked Australia dry for as long as it could and then packed its tools and disappeared as soon as the money dried up !!
Labor says they support automotive jobs but only if they are from the likes of rent-a-job foreign corporate crooks making obsolete rubbish that has no future such as Mitsubishi's ill-fated 380 gas guzzler. If you are a local car manufacture you can expect to be hung out to dry by the major parties !!
http://www.smh.com.au/national/electric-car-maker-angry-over-import-deal-2010072... Quote:AUSTRALIA'S leading electric car manufacturer has blasted the federal government for choosing an imported model to be Australia's first electric trial fleet.
In June, the federal Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Anthony Albanese, announced that the government would be buying 40 imported Mitsubishi i-Miev electric vehicles as a way of encouraging the uptake of electric vehicles.
But Castlemaine-based Blade Electric Vehicles said the decision was inexplicable given that its car, the Blade Electron, was better, cheaper, and had been developed with federal government funding.
''We cannot understand why Mr Albanese has chosen to exclude the Electron,'' said Ross Blade, director of BEV.
''The federal government has spent over $100,000 of taxpayers' money on the development of the Blade Electron through the COMET (Commercialising Emerging Technologies) program. Despite the Electron meeting Australia's design standards, the federal government has chosen instead to lease a foreign product at nearly double the cost.''
Mr Blade said that Mitsubishi was leasing the i-Miev for $1740 a month for a total cost over three years of $62,640. This compared with $900 a month for the Electron, for a total cost over three years of $48,000.
Mr Blade said the Electron was a bigger car with superior performance to the i-Miev and, more importantly, could be plugged into a regular power point for recharging.
However, a spokesman for Mr Albanese, Geoff Sinclair, said the government did not choose the Blade Electron because it was not a mass-produced car and did not meet two Australian design standards, although he could not say which ones.
Mr Blade said that if the Australian government was not going to buy a locally made electric car, it stood little chance of being mass produced.
''In terms of our vehicle being mass produced, the fact of the matter is that if the Australian government is not going to buy them, then how can they be mass produced?
''It's a chicken and egg thing.''
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Aussie Electric car maker angry over import deal (Read 1150 times)
