Just two weeks ago, the Australian Auto Industry Innovation Council published its Automotive Australia Vision 2020 report. The report, compiled with the input of Australian car makers, parts manufacturers, unions and engineering groups, put forward a vision of the Australian car industry as the world’s leading producers of large, powerful zero emissions vehicles.

To many people, this seemed like a surprising vision for the Australian car industry or even an oxymoron.

On first glance, Australia would appear to be an unlikely leader for the electric vehicle (EV) revolution. For a start, the Australian car industry is perceived by some as lacking innovation and committed to building large petrol cars that are no longer relevant. Moreover, Australia is not perceived as a natural market for EVs because Australia is famous as a land of vast distances while EVs are primarily seen as a solution for crowded cities. Finally, petrol prices in Australia are nowhere near as high as in Europe, which might suggest less opportunity for financial savings enabled by switching to electric.

The reality is quite different: Australia is a great potential market for producing, selling and driving EVs.

The Australian car industry is both highly efficient and extremely innovative. It is one of only about 14 countries worldwide that can produce a complete car from original design and engineering through to final assembly. The focus on innovation and efficiency has been driven by the opening up of the industry to competition over the last 25 years, and demonstrated by the success both car and component makers have had in finding global markets for their product.

The Holden Monaro – to pick just one example – showed that Australian engineers can produce an exceptional product in a highly efficient way. That’s why we at Better Place, and the Australian Auto Industry Innovation Council, are confident that the industry can succeed in delivering on the vision of being a leading producer of large, powerful zero emissions vehicles.

As for the size of the country – it’s true that Australia is a big island and that Australian drivers do drive long distances … but not the way most non-Australians think. The vast majority of the population lives in the suburbs of one of the seven large cities and drivers do nearly all of their driving within these cities. Suburban “road warriors” rack up most of their kilometres simply driving to and from work, ferrying kids to school and soccer and travelling to nearby countryside or coastal areas. And if their car is provided by their employer, our tax system gives them a higher deduction if they drive even more!

That’s why it’s important to recognise that EVs are not just great “city cars”, they are also great “suburban cars”. It’s the suburban commuters who have the most to gain from EVs – especially from ones that have switchable batteries. They can save on their massive petrol bills while being confident that their battery will take them wherever they want to go. Even if they want to take an occasional trip to another major city, they know they’ll be able to switch their battery along the way.

It’s true that we won’t have battery switch stations on every rural road – at least not immediately. So there may still be some situations where drivers will want to have access to a petrol car. This brings us to another attractive element of the Australian market: more than 50% of households have two or more cars. Drivers can purchase an EV and become increasingly confident in its range and in the availability of battery switch stations. Eventually they will decide to purchase a second EV to take advantage of all the benefits of electric driving. And if they want to take an occasional off-road or remote driving vacation, they’ll be able to take advantage of specialised petrol car rental businesses that will spring up to meet this very occasional need – just as truck and camper van rental companies do today.

Finally, let’s consider the (relatively) low price of petrol. The consequence of the low price of petrol is that Australian cars tend to be much less fuel efficient than cars in markets with high petrol prices. Our average fuel efficiency of 11.1 litres per 100km (that’s 21 miles to the gallon for our American friends) is much lower than Europe’s and has improved less than 1% in total over the last ten years. Not 1% each year. 1% in ten years!

This low fuel efficiency means drivers in Australia have a lot to save by switching to electricity. And they can make those savings without having to switch to a much smaller car – which is their alternative if they want to save money but stick with petrol. It’s my guess that the average Australian driver would much rather keep driving a large, powerful car with zero emissions than switch to a smaller, more fuel efficient car.

It’s no wonder then that the Australian car industry is embracing the opportunity to become the leading producer of large, powerful electric vehicles, and little doubt that the Australian driver, and the Australian economy and nation will be the better for that stance.