Aussie EV start-up plotting electric SUVs too
Ford Everest and Toyota Fortuner could get the EV treatment from RoevAustralian EV start-up Roev has revealed plans to convert diesel SUVs as well as utes to pure electric power.
Roev, formally launched in September 2021, has recently announced plans to start building the top-selling Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger with electric motors from March-April 2023.
It is targeting the fleet market and hopes to perform 1000 conversions in the first 12 months.
carsales has covered the Roev launch announcements comprehensively, including plans to design, develop and manufacture its own EV ute in Australia as soon as 2026.
But CEO and co-founder Noah Wasmer has now also confirmed the company’s ambitions spread to SUVs as well as utes.
Roev is designing its EV conversion kit to be easily transferrable between different ladder-frame vehicles.
The kits will include a single electric motor for both 4x2 and 4x4 models, a lithium-iron phosphate high-voltage battery and high-tech vehicle-to-load and vehicle-to-grid capability.
The new Ford Everest and Toyota Fortuner are obvious conversion candidates for Roev because they are based on the Ranger and HiLux respectively.
Down the track Roev’s own chassis would be designed to underpin both a ute or an SUV.
“Everything from the conversion kits to our future of manufacturing of a chassis that can support both a ute and an SUV is pretty commonplace in auto,” Wasmer said.
“For example, you see the Fortuner is built off the HiLux chassis for the most part, so you could see the opportunities to use a lot of the same technologies to scale beyond a ute into SUVs.
“But right now our primary objective is utes and we think that demand is going to be so large for the next decade we are primarily going to be focussed there.”
The 2023 Roev conversion could be the first electric ute on the Australian market, ahead of an expected launch of the Chinese-made LDV T60 EV and other prospective electric pick-up arrivals like the Ford F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T.
Electric SUVs are already on the market, although they are mainly focussed on lighter duties than a Roev Fortuner or Everest could potentially perform.
The conversion kit is also likely to be applied to other utes as well as the HiLux and Ranger as Roev expands its business, Wasmer explained.
“The chassis rails and your footprint [of the different utes] is nearly identical, so we could have a consistent battery box with different adaptors between the different components.
“That would allow you to say ‘same basic kit with minor changes on the adaptor plates between the different vehicle types’.
“Ultimately what we are doing is also interfacing with computer systems and that’s where we are staying very, very narrow with HiLux and Ranger [now] to make sure we have that full integration into the vehicle.
Related: Roev EV ute to kickstart local car manufacturing
Related: Toyota HiLux EV coming next year
Related: Another Australian company plotting an electric ute
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