Overseas interest in Aussie electric SUV

An overseas investor with strong motorsport connections has emerged as the most likely backer for South Australian start-up Red Automotive Technologies’ plan to develop and manufacture a 250km/h electric SUV.

First reported by motoring.com.au last November, the SUV is the brainchild of Adelaide engineer Paul van de Loo, who has spun Red out of his engineering design consultancy, Applidyne.

Van de Loo had hoped to find local backing for his plans, but told motoring.com.au potential investors had been put off by the limited amount of government financial assistance available to Red.

Start-ups such as Red and Melbourne-based Ethan Automotive do not qualify for the Automotive Transformation Scheme (ATS) as it is currently structured.

“When you go to an investor and it becomes apparent there is no real government support beyond the standard stuff, they do start to wonder if it makes sense and I don’t blame them,” van de Loo said.

“No-one on the planet in the last 100 years as far as I am aware been able to set up a car company without government support.”

But the potential application in motorsport as well as a road-going vehicle made the SUV appealing to the potential foreign investor, van de Loo said.

“It’s fair to say we are developing high-performance vehicles in this off-road but road-capable space, so the separation between what we are doing and what’s relevant to motor racing isn’t big.

“So there is a bit of a double pay-off that can accrue from developing the sort of technology we are developing.

“Those sort of motor racing applications; they are global, not just Australia. That’s how value can accrue to someone (an investor) off-shore.”

The SUV is intended to be based on a clean-sheet ‘skateboard’ architecture that employs four in-wheel motors, a patented two-speed transmission that would enable ultra-low and ultra-high speeds, innovative suspension design including semi-active roll and articulation control and vehicle-to-home interactions such as energy generation and supply.

Key specifications Red has targeted include a 200km-plus electric-only range, a 1200km-plus range with a range extender petrol or diesel engine, 0-100km/h in less than four seconds, a top speed of 250km/h, ride height adjustable suspension with 375mm of off-road ground clearance and a 3500kg braked towing capacity.

The company claims it can deliver off-road performance that can leave “the gnarliest Jeep or LandCruiser way behind”.

Red’s target is to be building up to 75,000 electric SUVs within 10 years in Australia, with all but 5000 earmarked for export to places such as the USA, Middle East and Europe. It would eventually build a range of vehicles with pricing spread between $85,000 and $200,000.

Van de Loo said the potential overseas investor had not raised any expectation that design, development or assembly should be based outside Australia.

He made it clear that the company management’s preference was that Australia remains as its headquarters, regarding that as intrinsic to the vehicle’s development.

“It is very tempting to move this off-shore,” van de Loo admitted. “We have been told a number of times that we could move this to the UK and have a big chunk of government funding almost immediately.

“But our key argument for not doing it is that we really see Australian DNA in this as being important. If you move this to the UK and you are doing it in the UK with predominantly UK engineers it is going to dilute that.

“You would lose something in the transition. For that reason alone, we want to do it here.”

Without secured funding van de Loo estimated development of the SUV was trickling along at about five per cent “of the speed it needs to be happening at”.

“So obviously every month that goes by we are falling another month behind where we need to be. I don’t think that’s a concern yet ... maybe in six to 12 months' time.

“I think we still have some time up our sleeve to find some money and get cracking.”

Van de Loo made it clear Red’s priority remained developing and building a complete vehicle. The manufacturing of high-tech components or the licensing of intellectual property were back-up options.

“The holy grail for us and what we are shooting for is to build cars and I think the more you can control how your IP gets to market then the more you are in the best position possible.

“The bottom line -- and where we differ to the what the majority of the local motor industry has commonly done before -- is we are very, very heavily IP [intellectual property] based. We are technology based, we are not just making widgets for everyone else.

“It does give us that flexibility that we could actually turn a profit out of this without building a single thing.”