SEA produces first Australian made electric truck, destined for mining company

The first Australian-made all-electric truck has rolled off its production line, produced by Victorian-based commercial electric vehicle manufacturer SEA Electric.

It has been delivered to leading Western Australian mining company Mineral Resources where it will be used to transport materials between MRL sites.

The SEA 300-85 is an 8.5-tonne truck constructed from a Semi Knocked Down (SKD) kit and boasts a 138kWh battery powering a 1,500Nm motor.

Unladen, the SEA 300-85 has a potential range of up to 300-kilometres and can be modified for a variety of final applications such as dry freight, temperature-controlled freight, elevated working platform, or a tipper for municipal use.

“We’ve developed a transition plan to a low-carbon future and that includes reducing our reliance on diesel,” said Mike Grey, MRL’s head of mining services.

“Our SEA Electric truck is just one of the ways we’re driving towards net zero.

The Semi Knocked Down kit that SEA Electric is new to Australian roads, but is backed by SEA Electric’s proven technology, which has undergone millions of kilometres of real-world use thanks to a previous retrofitting program.

SEA Electric has been performing driveline swaps since 2017 on existing internal combustion engine (ICE) trucks which has helped to perfect the company’s various technologies, including its SEA-Drive Power System.

“Australian manufacturing and ingenuity is alive and well, especially so in the development of products in the EV space, with SEA Electric’s innovations game-changing for the transport industry,” said Bill Gillespie, SEA Electric President – Asia Pacific.

“Our company’s stated mission is to eliminate more than a billion kilograms of CO₂ emissions over the next five years, and that will be made possible with the efforts of early adopters of the technology such as MRL.

“The response from the transport industry since the launch of our local volume production has been very heartening, and we are looking forward to passing many more milestones in the coming months.”

SEA Electric also revealed that it is replicating its production techniques developed in Australia into other markets overseas.

SEA Electric’s range of pure-electric trucks includes options ranging from 4.5-tonne car license trucks through to 22.5-tonne three-axle rigid electric trucks.

Last week, SEA Electric reported a massive order for 1,150 retrofitted Hino M5 electric trucks. The Hino trucks will be retrofitted with SEA Electric patented electric truck powertrains and then delivered to GATR EV, which operates in Iowa and Minnesota in the US as part of GATR Truck Centers.