The UK needs to set a binding target for building battery factories and install millions more charging points for electric cars, BBC Reports.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) says ambitious policies over the next decade could create up to 40,000 high-skilled jobs. But it warns failure to take action could be disastrous for the car sector.
SMMT fears the potential loss of around 90,000 posts and worsening regional inequalities across the country. The SMMT's chief executive, Mike Hawes, said that without the right backing, UK businesses would become "consumers not producers, spectators not innovators… lead and we succeed, follow and we fail".
"If ambitious words were currency, the UK would indeed be rich," he said. "Give us the tools, and we will finish the job."
Plea for Government support
The SMMT's report, meanwhile, makes a number of other recommendations. It says there is a need for at least 2.3 million new charging points to be set up around the country by 2030.
This would, it suggests "ensure that all drivers - especially those without driveways - have the confidence to invest in the latest low emission technologies, investment that will not just support a healthy domestic market, but which will underpin mass market automotive manufacturing in the UK".