The French government this week got caught up in the excitement around the release of the Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle, and the massive numbers of orders it received, and invited Tesla founder Elon Musk to establish a manufacturing plant in France, in a soon-to-be-disused nuclear facility.

“Who dares, wins,” said French energy minister Segolene Royal, as she announced an offer to Musk to build an Tesla production plant on the site of the Fessenheim nuclear facility that is due for closure next year, and as she spoke about the need to attract the jobs of the future.

It raises an interesting question. Should Malcolm Turnbull, the Australian prime minister who wants to make “innovation” and “disruptive technology” his hallmark, and is already a huge fan of the Tesla Model S, extend a similar invitation to Musk and invite him to help meet soaring demand with a production plant in Australia?

Turnbull last year visited the Tesla EV production line in Fremont, California (pictured above), and took a test drive of the Model S. Turnbull declared himself to be a fan of the “world’s fastest and coolest” car, and of the fact that Tesla had taken over an “old industrial relic”, a former General Motors factory, and turned it into a modern manufacturing plant.

“Walking through the highly automated assembly lines was inspiring, but nothing matched taking a test drive in the latest Tesla S model,” Turnbull enthused. You can read more here.

There are a bunch of reasons why Turnbull would want to extend an invitation to Musk. One is the fact that the electric vehicle will, soon enough, make the internal combustion engine redundant, be it in 10 years as some suggest, or a few decades.

Australia, too, has plenty of old industrial relics to be repurposed. Its car manufacturing industry is about to die with the imminent closure of the last players. South Australia, in particular, is losing industry. Its steel works are under threat, and premier Jay Weatherill has pledged to make his state a centre of the decarbonised economy.

There are probably a few good reasons why Australia is not a great place for electric vehicle manufacturing. One is the question of scale, even if some niche players are trying to make a go of it.

At the very least, Australia should be making more effort to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles, and to establish niche industries and manufacturing that can build and service parts of the global EV industry, if not build the whole vehicle.

That’s the view of a consortium of companies that spans energy network operators (Transgrid, Ergon), energy retailers (AGL Energy), EV makers (Tesla and Renault), EV service and charging companies (Jet Charge, Tritium, ChargePoint), three city councils (Adelaide, Sydney and Moreland) and advocacy and research groups such as Swinburne University, ClimateWorks and the Electric Vehicle Council.

A new report released on Thursday calls on the Turnbull government to provide a range of incentives to encourage the uptake of EVs, including emissions standards (Australia doesn’t have any), tax changes and fleet mandates, among others.

It says transport emissions in Australia have grown by nearly half since 1990, accounting for 17 per cent of the country’s total emissions and projected to rise by a further 6 per cent.

Australia, however, has one of the smallest take-ups of EVs in the developed world. In 2014 (before the arrival of the Tesla Model S) just 948 EVs were sold, out of a total market of more than one million.

Nissan has not even bothered to release its second generation Leaf into the Australian market. The Renault Zoe and the Chevy Bolt will also not be available.