Government Research Funding Lifts Australian Auto Industry

The Australian automotive industry is among the winners in the latest round of funding from the federal government for new cooperative research centers.

The Automotive Australia 2020 CRC is receiving A$26 million ($25.3 million) to undertake research programs in the areas of vehicle electrification, gaseous fuels and production of greener vehicles and components.

Australia Innovation Minister Kim Carr.

Announcing the successful applicants, Innovation Minister Kim Carr says the CRCs build partnerships between excellent researchers and industry, working collectively for the national benefit.

“These CRCs will research the major challenges facing Australia, as well as our big opportunities,” Carr says in a statement. “Their collaborations will deliver important economic, environmental and social benefits. This is about improving the living standard of all Australians.”

Carr says with its strengths in research and niche manufacturing, Australia is well-placed to engage with the rapidly growing Asian automotive market by providing technology for low-emissions cars and sustainable manufacturing.

“The new CRC will tackle the complex issues that are currently impeding the uptake of low-carbon vehicles worldwide, with innovation specifically in the areas of vehicle electrification, gaseous fuels and clean manufacturing,” he says.

Australia Automotive 2020 is a federal-government initiative started in 1991.

CRCs are collaborative partnerships between publicly funded researchers and end-users. The organizations must comprise at least one Australian end-user from the private, public or community sector and one Australian higher-education institution or research institute affiliated with a university.

Their aim is to provide economic, environmental and social benefits to Australia by supporting research partnerships requiring medium- to long-term collaborative efforts.

To date there have been 190 CRCs, with 44 now operating. The Australian government has given the partnerships more than A$3.4 billion ($3.35 billion) since the program’s inception, while participants have committed A$10.9 billion ($10.7 billion) in cash and in-kind contributions.

An earlier partnership between the CRC for Advanced Automotive Technology, the University of South Australia and SMR Automotive Australia has resulted in the development of a new plastic automotive mirror that launches in 2012.

The transfer of science to real-world product is reflected by the opening in May of a multi-million-dollar thin-film coating plant.

The plant will create a range of commercial mirrors for the automotive industry. The surfacing process imparts a stable, highly reflective coating surface on polycarbonate plastic and has a thickness of less than 5 microns, or about one-tenth the thickness of a human hair.

The development means a 50% reduction in weight of the mirror reflector; weight savings of 15% in the mirror assembly’s overall mass; and a resulting decrease in greenhouse-gas emissions of up to 440,920 lbs. (400,000 t) of carbon dioxide over five years.

The surfacing process also enhances safety in vehicle crashes, as polycarbonate plastic does not shatter like glass.

AutoCRC CEO Mathew Cuthbertson calls the high-tech mirror a great example of the Australian innovation system working.

“This is the future of the Australian automotive industry – innovative, globalized and ready to compete. We cannot focus on merely supplying for domestic consumption.”