EV enquiry to meet the makers

The chair of the Senate Select Committee on Electric Vehicles, independent South Australian senator, Tim Storer, has announced he will meet with members of the Electric Vehicle Council in Melbourne this week.

The meeting take places ahead of formal Committee proceedings scheduled for Adelaide, Canberra and Melbourne in August. Written submissions to the EV inquiry close on July 27.

“Tomorrow, I will meet with members of the Electric Vehicle Council in Melbourne to encourage them to engage with the inquiry and to better understand what needs to be done to ensure Australian motorists and businesses are well positioned to benefit from this revolution,” the Senator’s release read.

While the curious wording suggests there’s a potential lack of engagement from the privately formed peak EV body, Electric Vehicle Council CEO, Behyad Jafari, says there’s no issue.

“I think it’s more of an encouragement and reminder to all that the formal Committee proceedings are approaching. We’re engaged. Our members are engaged,” Jafari told motoring.com.au.

Jafari confirmed that the EV Council would provide a submission to the Senate Select Committee as would many of the body’s near-50 members.

“It’s a bi-partisan committee. There’s widespread support for it,” he stated.

Jafari says the outcome his group and its members are looking for from the enquiry is “certainty”.

“This is the direction we’re going – there’s new [EV] product, new [EV] businesses and a lot of interest about investing in Australia. Our message to the government is it doesn’t have to do everything. We’re [the industry] ready to make investments; we’re looking for some clarity and certainty.”

“Foreign investors see that there’s a competitive advantage to invest in Australia but it’s asking where is Australia on this [EV policy],” he said.

“This opportunity for the industry to meet with Senator Storer lets our industry make it clear that we’re already investing in Australia and we’re looking to do more,” Jafari stated.