Electric truck manufacturer SEA Electric has doubled the size of its Australian assembly facility for zero-emission trucks in Melbourne’s Dandenong.
The present plant has expanded to now cover 8000m2 on a total 15,000m2 site, giving SEA Electric the capacity to produce eight trucks daily, or up to 2080 units yearly.
SEA Electric released its first electric commercial products in 2017, while last year it launched its new range of medium and heavy-duty electric cab chassis models, distributed and supported by an extensive dealership network.
“Australia doesn’t need to search the world to attract EV manufacturers – SEA Electric is proud to be a global leader in commercial e-mobility technology, homegrown here in Victoria,” says SEA Electric founder and chief executive Tony Fairweather.
“Since launching our new range last year, we have attracted incredible interest from a wide cross-section of leading companies and government bodies, which seek to improve their environmental sustainability, despite a lack of policy and incentives to fuel growth in the sector on these shores.
“The recent change of Federal Government and the subsequent increase in EV activity has provided SEA Electric with renewed confidence that appropriate policy and incentives maybe close.”
Fairweather says that in spite of Australian passenger car production ending in 2017, Australia still has engineering, development, and manufacturing capabilities.
For the past year, SEA Electric’s facility has benefitted from a 100kW rooftop solar array producing 129MWh of energy to date, with 86MWh exported back to the power grid.
It has ensured the site produces 60% more energy than it consumes.
SEA Electric will use batteries within vehicle-to-grid (V2G) functional trucks on-site to provide power grid stability by feeding energy back during peak demand or grid disruption.
The SEA 300 EV and the SEA 500 EV are available in a range of models from 4.5t GVM vehicles capable of being driven on a car licence, through to 22.5t three-axle rigid trucks.
Final applications for the products include dry and refrigerated freight, side, front and rear refuse trucks, tilt trays, work trucks and elevated work platforms, with the company recently launching Australia’s first airport refuelling EV truck.
An aftersales and warranty offering includes 24/7 phone and roadside support, plus a nationwide network of dedicated service partners.
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