Partnership to bring e-trucks to NZ and Australia

Electric trucks will be brought to New Zealand and Australia under a partnership between BYD, bus and truck specialist Nexport and Macquarie Group’s Corporate and Asset Finance (CAF).

The range will initially include BYD’s T5 and T6 light electric vehicle (LEV) models for operators of 4.5-7 tonne logistics and general commercial trucks.

Nexport will handle sales and support of BYD e-trucks sold in Australia and New Zealand.

The partnership slogan is “the largest electric commercial vehicle (ECV) order in Australia to date.”

“We are pleased to be working with BYD and Nexport to support the roll-out of BYD’s electric commercial vehicle line in Australia and New Zealand,” Macquarie CAF associate director Scott Simpson says.

“We see increasing interest in fleet and rental solutions in a range of industries and markets where demand for LEV’s is growing, and look forward to working with BYD to explore this, not only in electric trucks, but also other significant EV markets, such as airports and logistics.”

Nexport says it is confident that BYD’s ECV’s can deliver benefits to operators compared to conventional diesel vehicles based on its experience.

Driving range for the new 2019 vehicle models being 300k, for the T5X model, on a single charge and estimate a saving of 40% in fuel costs based on diesel at $1.50 a litre – “potentially saving $6,000-$10,000 in annual fuel costs for a typical small truck driving 50,000 km a year”.