Driving the Future: A Candid Q&A

• AFIA launched The Role of the Finance Industry in the Transition to Sustainable Transport report and heard some of the key themes representing challenges to the adoption of EVs.

• A key take out is that while the ecosystem may be complex, we need to make things easy for consumers.

• We looked at alternative revenue models of transition, benefits of car subscription models, different challenges for finance companies and their interactions with businesses.

• People are getting awareness that energy is time sensitive, as more people get solar, they’re aware they’re feed-in tariffs go down in the middle of the day. EVs plugged into the grid be similar. The more often you plug your car in, the cheaper it is.

• Within the next 10 years, Wilson Carparking could be an energy provider. Charge your car for free, but they get to use a bit of the battery to power the grid.

• Energy storage issue will be very complex. A lot of players here who don’t want to come to the table, they want to protect their assets (networks etc).

• Traditional markets are being disrupted at every turn.

• A change in government, there will be changes, but often not wholesale changes. We’re not going back. It won’t disappear. Improved product quality will drive EV anyway. Government policy is more about bringing it forward.

• Uncertainty about policy and change of government is worse than the change of government itself. Uncertainty is a risk, which affects financing decisions.

• Can’t lose sight of the customer demand.

• The regulatory framework for financiers hasn’t kept up with the roles they play in terms of providing advice to consumers.

• Rental models, to credit models, in the middle there is a subscription model. Knowing your customer adequately, having more certainty about payments.