minarchist wrote on Jun 7
th, 2019 at 3:18pm:
The Australian Government spent years propping up the local (American and Japanese controlled) car industry and they ended up shutting production anyway. Why should we send subsidies to foreign car companies that already receive subsidies from their governments, even if they are EVs?
Why should we offer subsidies to purchase current EVs when we are ultimately better off to let EV technology mature so that more people end up buying longer range EVs? If it's locally produced and owned EV companies that we are talking then I would be more inclined to offer subsidies.
This maybe true but when you treat a local EV maker with contempt like Albasleezy did back in 2010 then we have no other choice than to import EV's just like we import everything else here now
https://www.smh.com.au/national/electric-car-maker-angry-over-import-deal-201007... Quote:Electric car maker angry over import deal
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.''