Let’s welcome a new modern Australian car industry

A few years ago, we bid a fond farewell to the car industry in Australia and most recently a fond farewell to an industry icon in Holden but that should not be the end of the story, it should really be the beginning.

We should be welcoming a new era with an electric autonomous, composite, modular vehicle and the Society of Automotive Engineers – Australasia (SAE-A) was ready to get behind such a proposal. This is especially timely in the era of COVID-19 when it has become obvious that we rely too heavily on overseas manufacturing in all areas. And it could be a global platform. Australia must preserve the engineering expertise built up by Holden and other Australian car company engineers over the years. “These engineers are a priceless brains trust that could launch right into a new automotive venture such as the electric police car project SAE-A announced this week,” SAE-A Chairman and CEO Adrian Feeney said. “I call on federal and state governments to support our feasibility study to get this project going, and to save our engineering brains trust while we still have it. “The Federal Government has shown its willingness to support automotive initiatives with the recent Automotive Innovation Lab Access Grants administered by the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Karen Andrews. “Added to that, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg are clearly committed to rebuilding our post-COVID economy, and the car industry can be part of that.” Mr Feeney said the SAE-A electric police car project had generated strong support from Australian automotive suppliers, from vehicle design to complete electric powertrains. “All it needs is the political will and modest financial support to do a feasibility study and harness all the diverse capabilities we have on our doorstep,” he said. “The Holden engineers are a world class team, but their knowledge will soon be dissipated as they seek new jobs in other industries and other countries. “SAE-A is ready to ramp up the police car project – all we need is a small amount of funding to make it happen, and we can have some solid answers within six months. “With the government focused on building a clever, self-sufficient post-COVID Australia, we hope the Holden shutdown might be a catalyst for the start of something special, instead of the end.” SAE-A Chairman and CEO Adrian Feeney said a global car would energise Australia’s automotive sector homing in on uniquely Australian engineering and manufacturing strengths. “COVID-19 has shown the importance of car manufacturing, and we propose to start with a car that no other country could build,” he said. “We would design it at the cutting edge of near-horizon technology, and we would build it in the medium volumes which Australia has always excelled in.

Australia’s car industry is ready for an electric future

What would it look like? It would be electric, substantially autonomous, built of advanced composites and made in a total volume of 50,000 to 100,000 per year. “It would be a modular family of specialist vehicles for world markets – imagine a police car, an ambulance, perhaps even a light military vehicle all off the same platform,” Mr Feeney said. The key to a reborn Australian car industry is to make the most of what our car and component manufacturers have always done better than others.

“We have always achieved more with less – more performance, greater strength and value for money, with smaller budgets, fewer engineers, and tighter economies of scale,” he said. “We still have the core engineering and manufacturing skills here, and if we have learnt anything from this current situation, it is imperative that we do it and do it now.” “First to join our group is Delineate, a transportation design company whose clients include Tesla, Google, Honda, Ford and Nissan,” he said. “Delineate has given us our initial inspiration – a blue-sky imagining of what a 21st century police car might look like – as a first step towards a commercially viable real-world vehicle.” Mr Feeney proposed a process similar to that which produced the aXcess Australia concept cars 20 years ago – two aspirational cars that generated billions of dollars of export sales. He said those cars had drawn on more than 130 Australian component manufacturers, and quite a few of those manufacturers were still in business. “For example, the first car was made of advanced composites such as Kevlar, and right now in Australia we build cars with even more advanced Kevlar-carbon fibre panels,” he said. The second aXcess Australia car, the LEVE, was one of the first hybrid electric cars to be designed and built in the world and it

preceded Toyota’s entry with the Prius. It was a pioneering exercise in new the use of new technologies. “And then there’s the legendary Aussie toughness – the history of our car industry overflows with stories of European and Japanese engineers being stunned by the strength of our cars.” Mr Feeney said Australia’s car industry had long enjoyed medium-volume manufacturing technologies unimagined by European, American and Asian manufacturers. “Global manufacturers were amazed at how their local subsidiaries could build 50,000 cars with the same quality and efficiency as overseas plants with 10 times the output,” he said. “If we move now to harness our engineering brainpower while we still have it, we can design and develop the cars of the future and we have the factories to build them. “The time is right to put money and political will behind our engineers and our manufacturers and rebuild a specialist car industry that can be the envy of the world.”

A reborn Australian car industry could repay its investment

The key to the financial success of a new Australian car hinges on embracing the most suitable technologies for a low-volume, highly specialised design. “What we propose is not a 20th century mass production concept, but rather a 21st century high-tech manufacturing exercise that plays to our Australian strengths,” Mr Feeney said. “The car factories we once had were billiondollar plants with a hugely expensive foundry and engine shop, body presses and weld lines just to produce the basic body and driveline. “By contrast, our police car proposal would use the same type of efficient low-volume body production already used to perfection by Paccar to build Kenworth trucks in Melbourne. “The driveline would be electric, with proven savings in materials and manufacturing costs, backed by Australia’s wealth of lithium and emergent battery industry. “And we should never forget that all these technologies will preserve a level of expertise that will be priceless next time we face a crisis such as a pandemic.” The market for these vehicles would reward high-level expertise that could produce exactly what the various police forces required. Australian police forces buy up to 5,000 cars each year, each with tens of thousands of dollars in special equipment added. The focus on police and emergency vehicles is a key element of the SAE-A proposal. “Our approach would put the money and effort into producing a modest volume of highly specialised vehicles, while avoiding the massive capital costs of a big-volume factory,” Mr Feeney said. “We’ve seen this sort of thing before, with specialist manufacturers building postal and ambulance vehicles, not to mention

our thriving coach and truck manufacturing industries. “By targeting a market with very specific needs, we can own that market long term and by dramatically reducing the capital cost, we completely re-write the financial equation.” Mr Feeney said SAE-A looked forward to generating interest from government and the private sector, with a view to a feasibility study to take the concept to the next level.

Proving a point with the concept car

Australian automotive engineers and designers have the expertise to lead the world in specialist vehicle design, and the proof is in a concept car. Australia has retained much of its skills base despite the end of volume car manufacturing in October 2017. “We basically have the automotive spectrum covered, from styling and engineering through to testing and development, and ultimately manufacturing and assembly,” Mr Feeney said. “All we need is the will to succeed and the investment to back it, and we can design, engineer and manufacture world-class specialist vehicles for world markets. “We are already doing it, with companies like Thales, which is currently building 1,100 Hawkei light armoured vehicles in Bendigo for the Australian Defence Force. “There is also substantial engineering and manufacturing expertise in companies such as HSV, which is remanufacturing several

Above: the first aXcess Australia car

Above & below: the aXcess Australia LEV developed in the late 1990s.

thousand cars and pickups every year to the highest engineering standards.” The SAE-A proposes to set up a group of automotive specialists to develop this vehicle. The concept group embodies leading practitioners of all the key capabilities that are needed to design and build a range of specialist vehicles. Australian companies could apply world-class local technology to produce electric drivetrains and high-tech composite bodies, plus all the specialist systems required. There are already many companies quietly achieving important milestones in the drivetrain and systems technologies that the car project would need. “Take electric drivetrains – we already have SEA Electric producing real-world electric trucks and vans, while AEV Robotics has developed a unique digital vehicle platform,” he said. “Australian engineers are working on the latest systems for global vehicles, and several companies are working with worldclass composite technology.” There are specific benefits for police cars in the type of composite construction developed by Bolwell Advanced Composites for ultra-light sportscars. “In addition to the strength and durability we have seen in the Boeing Dreamliner, composite construction can give a police car extra strength where it most needs it,” he said. “Some overseas police forces add expensive bullet-proof panels to the doors of their cars, but composites can offer this protection by simply adding Kevlar to the door skins. “Impact protection can also be enhanced by including carbon fibre and polypropylene in the mix – this technology is already being used in Australia.”

Purpose built for police protection

A purpose-built police car would offer law enforcement agencies unique operational and financial benefits and a specialised design would free police forces from the many compromises involved in adapting a volume-built car to their needs. “Police cars all around the world are cluttered with add-on equipment that was never a design priority for the cars on which they are based,” Mr Feeney said. “But our unique police car will be designed from the ground up to meet all the requirements of police forces both in Australia and overseas.” Australian transportation design house Delineate is experienced in designing modified police vehicles and CEO Rob Veitch says a purpose-built car would solve a lot of problems. “It takes a lot of work to fit modern police equipment to an existing design, especially if you need to convert that vehicle back to a normal car after its police service life,” Mr Veitch said. “A car designed from the outset to meet police needs could also be designed for a very specific second life, most likely as a taxi, with easy conversion as part of the design.” The Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore “police packs”, introduced in 1978 and 1981 respectively, served 30-plus years for general duties, highway patrol and prisoner transport. Mr Feeney said the situation changed dramatically by 2016, when police forces in Australia and New Zealand knew their preferred cars would soon cease production. “Around that time, the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA) sought proposals for three national police cars, for prisoner transportation, highway patrol and general duties,” he said. “Since then we have seen BMW, Mercedes, Kia, Hyundai, Volkswagen and Chrysler among the prominent suppliers to Australia’s police forces.

“Some of these imported cars cost thousands more than the Commodores and Falcons they replace, so we believe we could produce a special-purpose car at a competitive price.” Mr Feeney said the equipment and features fitted to Australian police cars could be readily designed into the electric, composite, modular and partially autonomous new car. “A powerful engine and automatic transmission are part of it, along with minimal maintenance, and these are easily matched by an electric car,” he said. “Then there’s radar equipment, a calibrated speedometer, roof-mounted number plate recognition cameras and a laptop computer with mobile data terminal – all much more readily built-in than added on. “Also, on board are video cameras, special radios, random breath testing gear, traffic cones, fire extinguisher, first-aid kit, lights and sirens, plus bullet proof vests, batons and torches. “Once you start adding up the cost and complexity of accommodating all this gear in a mass-produced car, it’s easy to see the potential for designing them in from day one.”

A life beyond police duties

A unique modular Australian police car would have several lives beyond its initial role as a police patrol vehicle as its modular design would maximise the car’s versatility. “It’s all in the detailed planning that happens long before a car is built,” Mr Feeney said. “We see the initial police car concept being built on a scalable modular architecture that is adaptable to purposes such as ambulances and other emergency service vehicles. “Just as importantly, it would be designed to adapt perfectly for a second life as, say, a taxi which is where a lot of the value lies. “Unlike mass-produced cars which need major modification for specialised roles, our car would be designed for both its roles, with minimal cost and effort for each transformation.” A scalable specialised platform concept was already used to good effect by the London EV Company in its electric London taxi and its LCV delivery van. “As with the London tax and van, our police car platform could easily spin off a taller, longer-wheelbase vehicle, not as a van but as an ambulance,” he said. “That’s a cost saving right there that can offset any lost economies of scale, and the economy continues when it’s time for that police vehicle to retire. “In many parts of the world, retired police cars have a second life as taxis, being adapted as best they can for both roles, whereas our car would be purpose built for both lives. “Fittings for police lights, computers, radios and safety screens can all be designed to serve similar but slightly different purposes in a taxi.” Design concepts for the unique new Australian vehicle would be based on extensive and detailed research of all likely markets around the world to maximise wholeof-life value. Mr Feeney said this research would consider not only of the end-user needs but also whether markets would take fully imported or locally assembled variants of the car.