Aside from Nissan Leaf, EV hatchbacks have been missing from the Australian EV market. But that may be about to change soon.
Last week, Australia’s first low cost EV hatchback was spotted being tested on the streets of Sydney.
Now the news is surfacing of an EV hatchback brand exporting cars to Israel which looks promising for other markets like Australia.
Leapmotors is a Chinese EV brand that focuses on affordable EVs. Its T03 hatchback has just been launched in Israel after the brand opened its three showrooms in the country.
The first showroom is in Tel Aviv where consumers looking at purchasing the Leapmotor T03 hatchback are able to get delivery of the EV on the same day.
An event was held to mark the launch of this new EV brand in the Israeli market with local media attending to see the Leapmotor T03 in person.
The T03 is an affordable city hatchback. It’s slightly smaller in length than a Toyota Yaris coming in at:
- 3,620 mm in length
- 1,652 mm in width
- 1,577 mm in height
It’s powered by a 55 kW motor that drives the front wheels and offers 155 Nm of torque which is plenty for inner-city driving.
The motor is fed by a 36.5 kWh battery pack which can deliver up to 300 km of WLTP range.
For a car that costs less than $15,000 AUD in its local market, it offers a 10.1” infotainment screen as well as three outside cameras and twelve radars for level 2 autonomous driving.
This year, according to company reports, Leapmotor has delivered nearly 100,000 EVs and is ramping production to meet international demand as it launches in more markets.
This is quite remarkable to see the specifications and what’s included for that price. Even after shipping, local delivery and dealership costs, it could be an EV that’s available in the Australian market for under $22,000.
Affordable EVs are starting to leave the world’s largest EV manufacturing hub and making their way to Europe, Middle-East and more locally south-east Asia.
More progressive EV policies are being developed in Australia and it won’t be long before EVs like the Leapmotor T03 will be destined towards our shores too.
A review of the Leapmotor T03 on YouTube by the Fully Charged Show:
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.