Investment boost for SEA Electric

Homegrown commercial EV specialist SEA Electric has announced it has secured further investment of around $US42 million (approximately $A54 million). The firm says the funding will allow the company to expand its operations and continue the development of its Sea-Drive 120b battery power system, as it explores options to seek a public listing in the US this year.

The company was founded in Melbourne in 2012, but has since expanded to five countries and opened a global headquarters in Los Angeles. The firm has applied its electric drivetrain systems to products from several major manufacturers, including Ford, Isuzu, IVECO and Hino.

Last December the company signed a deal with Toyota Indonesia to build an EV prototype, while it recently welcomed Canadian clean technology firm, Exro Technologies, as a strategic partner and shareholder.

SEA Electric's President and founder, Tony Fairweather, says the firm's momentum is building significantly.

"We are very pleased to have completed a heavily oversubscribed equity financing and are excited to welcome aboard a global set of institutional investors as partners," he said via a company statement.

"The financing allows SEA Electric to grow our backlog as we explore options to seek a public listing in the United States this year.

"2021 will see a paradigm shift in the way developed markets facilitate uptake of commercial electric vehicles and the unstoppable momentum will build year after year."

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The media release also states that SEA Electric will unveil its first SEA Hino Australian SKD-assembled (semi knocked-down) EV truck, the SEA Hino 300, at the Brisbane Truck Show in May 2021. The truck follows the deployment of the first SEA Hino 195 EV truck in California in May 2020.

The SEA Electric website currently lists an SEA Hino 917 for the Australian market, along with SEA EV versions of Hino FE, GH, FM and FG models.

Hino is ramping up its efforts in the EV space, having signed a strategic alliance with VW's TRATON Group to further e-mobility in the commercial sphere in late 2020.

That followed on from Hino Trucks USA announcing its 'Project Z' initiative last October – a drive towards zero-emissions trucks that will encompass both battery electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles, in which SEA Electric is playing a major role. You can see senior Hino Trucks USA executives speaking with SEA Electric's Tony Fairweather in the Facebook clip below…

SEA Electric says it's on track to deliver over 1000 electric commercial vehicles in 2021, and hopes to have over 15,000 vehicles on the road by the end of 2023. It says it's already conducted over 1,600,000km of independent OEM testing of its products across all its markets.