The keen interest in the EV discussion by online attendees at the webinar is to be followed up at the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association’s (AAAA) expo. The AAAA said that EVs and the speed at which they become as popular as internal-combustion engines were one of the most discussed topics among workshops. 

AAAA’s director of government relations and advocacy, Lesley Yates, said the market projections were based on assumptions of buying trends and on existing government incentives.

“While these figures are always being updated based on new information, numbers from the end of last year show that when looking at the proportion of the car parc that is or will be electric, that even if 50 per cent of sales are EV in 2030, the car parc will be at best about six per cent EV and 94 per cent traditional fuel vehicles at that point,” Ms Yates said.  

“2045 is increasingly looking like the tipping point, so looking ahead, the AAAA believes that if you run a workshop with four bays, one of these will be EV in 2040 and half of them will be EV in 2045, assuming a steady increase and that government policy remains the same.” 

The AAAA said that to ensure its members can continue to thrive into this new era, it has established an EV Strategy Group focused on helping the industry prepare for this evolution. 

It has a simple brief – to support members to reach a point that they can confidently tell their customer – “yes, I can service your EV.”

AAAA member and the managing director of vehicle service group mycar, Adam Pay, said: “We see EV as evolution, rather than revolution.”

“Once adoption picks up, we’ll need to move at pace, but right now there’s a healthy runway for the industry to transition. But we need to take action; it’ll need the industry – all of us – to do something about it; to prepare ourselves.”

The AAAA and its EV Strategy Board said the aftermarket industry needed to pay attention to questions about the future so it can now plan to embrace EVs. It said workshops should: 

• Know when EVs are coming
• Have the knowledge to work with them
• Understand workshop layout considerations
• Be ready with consumer information. 

“What I am confident about, is the ability of this industry to adapt and change. We’ve proved it time and time again,” Mr Pay said.

“Keeping our minds open to the opportunities, being inquisitive and learning; gearing up and working together as an industry to embrace the future, will ensure our collective ‘from, to’ journey is smooth and successful,” he said.

The EV journey will be addressed as part of the expo’s “Electric Vehicles Trends and Opportunities” seminar, presented by AAAA CEO Stuart Charity on the Saturday of the expo.

This EV seminar program represents just one of many free seminars across the three days of the expo focusing on the topics that matter to the automotive industry. 

The comprehensive Seminar Series is complemented by the highly anticipated Workshop of the Future pavilion, replicating a futuristic workshop and bringing together state-of-the-art equipment and technology with regular presentations from industry experts.

The Australian Auto Aftermarket Expo, co-located with the Collision Repair Expo will take place April 7-9, 2022 at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. 

The expo is the nation’s only comprehensive exhibition for Australia’s $25 billion aftermarket industry. Over 8000 trade visitors will join more than 250 exhibitors across three days to learn, network, and experience the latest automotive parts, equipment and technology.

By Neil Dowling