An Australian technology start-up company has created an electric Toyota HiLux for fleet buyers years before Toyota is likely to have one in its local showroom line-up. Roev has a long-term goal to manufacture its own electric vehicles in Australia but is beginning with electric conversions of existing utes, starting with the Toyota HiLux, Australia's top-selling vehicle outright for the past six years.
The hand-built Toyota HiLux electric utes
are for now not aimed at retail buyers, but the company is targeting government
and business fleets — and mining companies. Roev is yet to disclose the cost of
the conversion, but industry experts estimate it could amount to more than US$ 40,000 – in addition to the initial US$ 60,000 outlay for the original vehicle.
The CEO and co-founder of Roev, Noah
Wasmer — a former executive at the Atlassian software company — said in a media
statement: “The ute is the obvious choice because of the size of the market and
the fact that there is no outlook at all for mainstream electric utes hitting
our shores. “They are also among the worst emitters of CO2 being almost 100 per
cent diesel and with high kilometres driven due to the nature of their use.”
Little is known about the technical detail
of the vehicle or the conversion work, however the Roev HiLux is believed to
have either 70kWh or 100kWh batteries, with a single electric motor, for a
maximum driving range of about 400 kilometres.
