Moss Vale is set to become the centre of the New South Wales electric vehicle industry. Nexport, the largest supplier of electric vehicles in Australia, is building a $700 million, 51-hectare manufacturing base in town.
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The NSW Government intend to convert their entire fleet of 8000 buses to electric vehicles. Nexport CEO Luke Todd predicts that could create a $12 billion economic boost for the state - and Moss Vale will be part of it.
The seven-star, zero emissions facility is expected to be up and running by the second half of 2021. Until then, Nexport will produce electric buses from its interim facility at Glendenning, starting in January.
At first, the Moss Vale facility will produce electric buses for NSW, Australia, and the export market: assembling aluminium bus bodies and high-tech componentry such as electronics and battery technology. It will then manufacture electric trucks and, later, electric cars.
"We're trying to bring manufacturing and production back to NSW," Mr Todd said. "A lot of what we're doing is already done overseas. Through the TrueGreen investment group" - Nexport's majority owner, of which Mr Todd is also CEO - "we've been able to pick apart our processes and work out how much of it can be done locally."
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An economic boost for Moss Vale
Moss Vale, Mr Todd said, was chosen because it is in an industrial zone halfway between Sydney and the ACT, and close to the ports.
The facility is expected to create more than 2000 new skilled jobs over the next five years. Mr Todd estimates that the building phase will employ 700 construction workers, while there will be 2000 jobs when the facility enters full production.
Some of those workers will be trained local youths. The facility will have an educational component: an electric vehicles TAFE facility.
"A lot of regional towns have a whole range of social challenges," Mr Todd said. "We want to get the local youth involved with the evolution of electric vehicles, and create a whole industry based around the CleanTech industry. The more we can get the local youth involved will be fantastic for everybody."
Mr Todd also promised a range of other environmentally positive initiatives such as converting the region's taxis to electric.
"The facility will bring an economic boost to the local community," Mr Todd said. "We're now going through the phase of architectural drawings and engaging with the council and local community. We're planning an extensive community consultative approach in the next few months."
The future is electric, Luke Todd believes
Mr Todd expects electric vehicles can become a major industry for Australia. By 2025, according to a Bloomberg report, nearly half of municipal buses worldwide will be electric; the total number in service will more than triple from 386,000 in 2017 to 1.2 million in 2025.
"Based on the current trends, it is most likely that electric buses will end up dominating the suburban route market due to the mass take-up and head start electric technology has over hydrogen," Mr Todd recently told the NSW Legislative Council Committee on Transport and Infrastructure.
Mr Todd himself has operated electric airport bus fleets in Sydney and Brisbane since 2016 - Australia's first. He has also been involved in a 14-month government trial of electric buses in Leichhardt.
"More than 4.5 million green kilometres have been travelled in electric buses in Australia since 2016," Mr Todd said.
Electric buses have many advantages compared to traditional diesel engines, Mr Todd believes. They do not pollute the air; their tailpipes do not emit fumes, so there is less nitric oxide, and carbon emissions in general are reduced to zero. They are absolutely silent, so noise levels in cities and suburbs are lessened. They are more comfortable, because they do not vibrate. As a result, drivers are less fatigued and more alert. They are also cheaper; the initial construction may be pricier, but an electric bus is $50,000 a year less expensive to run than a diesel bus.
China is predicted to become the world leader in electric vehicles; they already have more than 420,000 electric buses, and are expected to have 600,000 by 2025. For Australia to be globally competitive against China, Mr Todd believes the answer lies in intelligent production:
"Bringing the best supply chain from around the world, and then utilising the best supply chain that we can locally.
"We can't get everything from Australia; that isn't viable. But we will source the key components locally, as much as we can; then import high-tech components that are better produced offshore for economic or technology reasons; and then assemble that locally."
For instance, Mr Todd explained, China makes the best batteries and battery management system, at the most economical price. Nexport will source those from overseas, but 90 per cent of the bus - the aluminium body, seats, glass, carbon fibre, and composite materials - can be sourced within Australia.
Nexport also plans to export its homegrown engineered technology. A new bus chassis that reduces the weight of electric buses by 2.5 tons has been designed, engineered, and the prototype built in NSW.
"We can export this product to all the buses around the world, and supply this chassis to incorporate into their own products, which will make the best products around the world far better," Mr Todd said.