Foton looks to go big in 2024

Believe it or not, Foton is a market leader. With the T5 electric truck, Foton Mobility, the company marketing the Foton brand of electric trucks in this country, is the market leader in electric trucks.

Last week, we sat down with Foton Mobility’s GM of Light Duty Vehicles, Bill Gillespie, and found out some interesting details of what is in store for us next year when Foton Mobility ramps up its electric truck offerings in Australia.

At present, Foton only has the T5 battery-electric available in the truck space. The company also offers a hydrogen-powered bus as well as a battery-electric bus and it will soon be offering an electric van.

The T5 electric truck is available in either 4500kg GVM (for car licence drivers) or 6000kg for light-rigid drivers.

The T5 EV has a fully-loaded range of 180km, while also offering a full safety suite, including a Low-Speed Pedestrian Warning System, a comprehensive electronic braking and stability support package, dual SRS airbags, as well as reversing radar and buzzer.

The T5 can be leased or bought outright and is available as a cab/chassis, a Pantech, refrigerated truck or a tipper.

“We’ve been working with lease companies around the country and using different deals from two to five years, even up to 10 years with different residuals,” Gillespie said.

Asked what sort of companies were taking up the Foton electric trucks Mr Gillespie said that it was varied: “Apart from councils and the like, so far it’s been refrigerated truck, obviously for Woolworths, pantechs for last-mile delivery, and tipper, and then random other bits and pieces like alloy tray to Kennards. That’s the use case so far in a nutshell.”

Foton Mobility is backing the T5 with a five-year 200,000km warranty on the truck and an eight-year 300,000km warranty on the battery.

However, next year is where the big news is. Foton Mobility will introduce a nine-tonne electric truck, an 18-tonne truck and even a prime mover in 2024. Mr Gillespie also told us that they’d have a 32-tonne agitator by the end of next year.

“We’ve now taken our 200th order and we estimate we’ll have another 500 orders by the end of next year,” Mr Gillespie said. “By 2025 we will have a complete range of electric trucks,” he added.

Gillespie said that Foton Mobility has dealers all around the country at the moment, and are steadily building.

Currently the Foton trucks are in some big fleets like All Purpose Transport, Woolworths as well as councils and government departments around the country.

However, with the big plans detailed by Bill Gillespie, Foton looks like it could be the company to watch in the electric space next year.