Australia’s first fully electric light commercial vehicle, the ACE-EV, will be officially launched at the National Transport Museum this weekend as part of Inverell’s inaugural electric vehicle expo.
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“We are proud to be launching the first in our range of Australian EV’s - the ACE Cargo and ACE Yewt,” GetGreen co-founder Greg McGarvie said.
“Inverell is a proactive, forward thinking renewable energy community. It really is a smart strategy by the National Transport Museum embracing electric vehicles for its groundbreaking 2018 expo this weekend.”
Although the vehicles are not physically available to test until later this year due to a delay caused by administrative issues, they will undergo a ‘soft’ launch at the local event.
Mr McGarvie will speak at the expo on Saturday and says he will provide insight into “the secrets of our operation”.
He will explain why he believes an Australian-built range of light commercial electric vehicles is good for business, the community and for building a sustainable future for our children and grandchildren.
He congratulated National Transport Museum president Kevin Dunn and the committee for creating the initiative, said he looked forward to meeting the team and the wider community.
Mr Dunn said the museum was surprised by the “overwhelming” enthusiasm of those in the electric and solar vehicle community for the expo.
“That doesn’t mean it’s going to be huge. It simply means that we’re going to have real enthusiasts turn up,” he said.
Mr McGarvie noted that the NSW Government and Minister for Tourism Adam Marshall had recognised the attraction of the event through their sponsorship.
“It often takes innovative country communities to show the way forward, Inverell could be that example,” he said.
Mr McGarvie first established Getgreen in 2009 alongside Will Qiang. Initially an energy management planning company, Getgreen has since expanded into solar farm development and, more recently, electric vehicle manufacturing under the ACE EV Group.
“We believe our light commercial electric vehicles are a first for Australia,” Mr McGarvie said. He said that with a low cost business plan, ACE-EV had a highly skilled and experienced team with a passion for change.
“The infrastructure for assembly is in process for automotive manufacturing. The production is based on a patented disruptive technology and business model,” he said.
ACE-EV believes that on the world stage, Australians are lagging behind in the purchase of electric cars. In 2017, Australians bought 1680 EVs of 2,000,000 bought worldwide, while China purchased 680,000.
“The key reason for poor Australian uptake of electric vehicles is a mix of barriers including cost, range anxiety, limited choices of models and a shortfall of charging stations and servicing facilities,” Mr McGarvie said.
He said the ACE-EV models will be an Australian product with a low entry cost, a good range of 350 km and very low running and maintenance costs. Each vehicle sale includes a charging station.
The cars are expected to be presented at the National Electric Vehicle Expo in Brisbane this November.
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