Aussie EV maker plans new production facility in Latrobe Valley

The Victorian state government has today announced funding for a specialist manufacturer to establish a plant in the Latrobe Valley, employing 500 workers to assemble electric vehicles.

Dandenong-based SEA Electric is committed to a 20,000m² factory site based in Morwell. Within 12 months the company hopes the new plant will be open for business, initially building 2400 vans and minibuses a year.

According to a press release issued by the Victorian Government, production at SEA Electric's Latrobe Valley facility will be scalable – with the capacity to double production output. The vehicles to be built there will be SEA Electric's E4V van and the minibus version, the E4B.

"One of them is the 10m³ delivery van product, the other one is a 15-seat commuter minibus, but exactly the same platform and the same electric drive – just two different configurations," explained SEA Electric Group Managing Director, Tony Fairweather.

The bad news is that the E4V is currently priced at "around $80,000". At around $95,000, the E4B bus is more expensive still, but Fairweather expects the cost of batteries for the light commercial vehicles will drop by up to 30 per cent within 12 months – and while that will have a significant impact on the retail price of the vehicles, there are also savings to be made through lower operating costs.

Powered by a 70kW motor that produces 340Nm, the E4V is limited to a 100km/h top speed and takes five seconds to reach 50km/h. Range will depend on payload and driving conditions. But Fairweather has told motoring.com.au that the electric van is currently being trialled by DHL and is achieving a range of up to 320km in a "good urban delivery environment" with an average payload of 650kg.

The E4V's 'SEA-DRIVE 70' battery pack can be fully recharged in under four hours, using a three-phase power supply, and if the vehicle is parked overnight it can also be recharged from a standard 240V outlet. SEA Electric will assemble the E4V and E4B with regenerative braking as well, to extend the range during the day.

Fairweather revealed that SEA Electric has entered into an agreement with Chinese firm XGD to supply a rolling chassis as the 'donor vehicle' for the E4V application.

"Our business is really around the driveline technology," Fairweather explained.

The battery, powertrain and other mechanicals – including power steering and electric air conditioning – will be fitted at the Morwell plant and shipped out to customers throughout Australia and New Zealand in a B2B (business to business) arrangement.

There will be no dealer network, Fairweather says. The company will simply sell its finished products directly to commercial vehicle fleets. The vehicles are ADR-compliant and SEA Electric's Morwell plant will be able to build left-hand drive models for export as well as RHD for domestic consumption, should export markets (in addition to New Zealand) open up.

The company's Dandenong facility is currently building trucks with a GVM of up to 23.5 tonnes, but pilot-build E4V and E4B production will roll out of Dandenong until the Morwell plant is operational. Staff recruited from the Latrobe Valley will commute to Dandenong initially, and then transfer to the Morwell facility fully trained and ready to resume work in the new location.

Fairweather says that while the state government funding was a drawcard, Morwell is well serviced by "an intermodal transport hub" and can draw upon skilled and experienced workers left underemployed by the recent closure of the Hazelwood power station.