Geoff Gwilym

A FUTURE fund using investments from superannuation companies could pay for Australia’s electric vehicle infrastructure while returning money back to the funds in the form of interest under a radical proposal from Victoria’s peak automotive industry body.

The plan to provide an Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Future Fund would overcome the need for the federal government to draw from its own reserves through taxation and would potentially accelerate the development of a national EV charging network.

It would also provide a solid base for community uptake in EV sales, and serve to lower the nation’s carbon footprint in line with global emissions mandates.

The idea was explained to GoAutoNews Premium by its originator, Geoff Gwilym, who is the CEO of the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (VACC).

“There are massive challenges in a rollout of electric vehicles that revolve around the infrastructure,” he said.

“We know there are 800 charging stations in Australia at the moment and we will probably need, on the way the future is predicted, about 80,000.

“It’s a big ask to get private investors to roll out an infrastructure that may or may not see slow growth over the next five years because government policy is intermittent. That doesn’t help investors who are not sure what volumes of EVs will be on our roads.”

Mr Gwilym said that to get people into EVs, “we have moved well past range anxiety and we are now focused on charge anxiety”.

“Owners now want to know where the car has to be charged and how long it will take,” he said.

“So we need a comprehensive network of charging stations centring around the cities, because urban areas will be the first and the biggest users of EVs and therefore the charging infrastructure.”

Mr Gwilym said the idea of a future fund for the EV network was based on his knowledge of the government future fund established in 2006 by then treasurer Peter Costello.

“If you took the same principal (funding) in the superannuation industry that has almost $3 trillion in funds, the government could access $20 billion – as an example – of that amount and create a future fund and guarantee an interest rate back to those funds.

“That would mean that if the government has an EV infrastructure that for some reason doesn’t get used by the public, then the government would have to meet the principal and interest on that debt.

“However, if the infrastructure is put in place and it does get used and people buy EVs, then the government can have a network that it can charge people to use and repay the debt to the super funds.”

He said that without a single national infrastructure in place, there would be a “patchwork” of charging stations across the country charging different amounts and providing different services “that we already know from our existing electricity providers”.

“That is overly complex and we don’t want that replicated for the EV market,” he said of Australia’s state-based electricity system.

“The EV charging facilities should be like onion rings around the city centres because that will suit the biggest demand. From there you would grow the network outwards.”

He said the idea of a future fund for EV infrastructure was no different from any other investment by superannuation funds.

“The government can’t afford the infrastructure needed in the time it will be needed given the advances of EVs around the world,” he said.

“What a magnificent place for the super funds to invest – it’s an investment in Australia for Australians, it will make a huge difference to our emission targets and the greenhouse gas issue, it doesn’t drag a massive amount of money out of the government coffers in one hit, and the super funds benefit by a guaranteed return on the investment.

“I think this has legs. The creation of an Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Future Fund is a credible long-term investment in Australia’s future transport and infrastructure needs.”

The federal government’s future fund established by treasurer Costello and prime minister John Howard in 2006 started with an initial seed funding of $18 billion. It is now worth more than $150 billion and has earned a return of 8.7 per cent over the past decade.

By Neil Dowling