Foton Mobility Group (FMD) recently provided media with an update on its range, sales and plans for the future as it pushes to lead the commercial EV race.
FMD founder and CEO, Neil Wang, explained that the company’s vision is the same as it was when he kicked things off in 2020; to be the dominant hydrogen and electric commercial vehicle player.
“I started this business by myself and, actually, I started on the day COVID-19 started in Australia,” Neil said.
“From the end of 2020 we had the first delivery. Today, we have more than 220 Foton T5 EV trucks on the ground in Australia.
“We want to be the bridge from a good product overseas, to the customer in Australia. Our vision is that we want to be the major distributor for hydrogen and EV vehicles in Australia.”
The team has grown since Neil’s beginnings in 2020, now boasting 15 truck and bus professionals ranging from engineers to sales managers.
“We have a good team here in Australia, with around 15 people onboard at the moment, including some engineers from overseas,” he said.
“Everyone in my team is from the industry, from the truck or bus industry, and we all have many years experience so we understand the industry and we understand the customers.”
Boasting major customers like Woolworths, Bunnings, Kennards Hire, Ikea and Mainfreight, among others, the FMD team managed to top the electric truck sales ladder in 2023. Looking forward, though, the company plans to expand its range and is experimenting with ways to reduce the tare weight of its car-licence trucks – improving range and payload.
“We’ll only announce the product launch time when we have the vehicle in the ADR process, but from my best knowledge we’ll have additional models of trucks coming to Australia by mid-next year,” Neil said.
“We can’t guarantee what models will come next year, but trust me, Foton has a large range of vehicles and we will try and bring everything to Australia.
“We’re also doing some research on super-light chassis, to try to reduce the weight to give more payload to the EV truck. At the moment the T5 on a car-licence, is still a couple hundred kilograms heavier than the diesel version so this is something we are working with local industry – like universities and partners – to try and find solutions.”
In terms of other technology FMD is considering for its local trucks, Neil explained that a number of equipment changes may be in the works.
“At the moment it (T5 EV) has two battery packs on the side of the chassis but we are considering a single battery pack in the middle, we are considering e-axles, we are also considering different materials like carbon fibre.”
Topping the list of challenges currently facing the electric truck update in Australia, FMD outlined, is a lack of infrastructure and the need for commercial vehicle-specific charging solutions.
“It’s easy to charge a car at home, you only need one AC charger, but it’s going to be very hard to charge 60 or 100 trucks, or 100 buses, at one depot,” Neil said.
“That’s why we are working with industry partners to bring a local solution to our customers. BOC Gas is my customer to supply hydrogen, Energy Australia is our partner to supply charging solutions, we also have Ampol, EVSE, all of these kinds of partners to supply the charging solution to our fleet customers.”
Another challenge, Neil said, is a lack of training for electric commercial vehicles – which is a problem FMD is working to address.
“We have spent a lot of time, and we even have a special training department…to work with all of the training partners in Australia,” he said.
“Currently we have made a deal with TAFE New South Wales, TAFE Tasmania, TAFE Queensland, South West Tafe, and several universities to do different partnerships in training and knowledge sharing.
“I believe this is essential for the commercial electric vehicle industry in Australia. For people to fix them, they need knowledge of the vehicle. That’s why we invest a lot, not only for us but for the whole industry.”
The last issue Neil touched on is the unknown residual value of EV trucks, but to combat this FMD recently introduced an extended eight-year warranty for its T5 EV truck.
“Last month we introduced the industry-first eight-year warranty for the EV trucks we distribute, which is Foton T5, because when we talk to people the majority of truck fleets want to hold the new truck for five years,” he said.
“If you are warrantied for only three or five years, after five years there is no warranty and they (customers) believe the residual value will be minimal.
“After a couple of years in Australia, we collected all of the information for the 180 trucks we have on the road and we feel very comfortable to provide this new warranty in Australia.”
Speaking with Fleet HV News recently, FMD General Manager, Bill Gillespie, shared the company’s plans to introduce larger electric truck models ranging from 8.5- to 18-tonne GVM, but timing is unknown.
“There will be an 8.5- or nine-tonne truck that we’ll bring to market, and we’ll be able to clarify the exact timing on that after some meetings in China in August,” he said.
“Then there’s a 16- or 18-tonne GVM truck as well.”
A heavy-duty Foton e-AUMAN C agitator is currently being trialled near Port Hedland in Western Australia, too, which Bill said FMD is also interested in.
“That is a global deal with Holcim, from Foton globally, and we’re a country they’ve chosen to do this trial with,” he said.
“That truck comes in fully built as an agitator, but we would also have the option to bring that in as a cab chassis to target some local distribution work.”
