IN FOCUS
TRUE GREEN EV FUNDING
TRUE GREEN SECURES E-BUS FUNDING Australian ‘clean tech’ investor True Green – whose portfolio includes electric bus transport and technology group Nexport Mobility – has successfully secured $110 million to advance its e-bus and EV making capability nationwide.
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ong Kong-based Tor Investment Management, a private alternative asset manager focused on AsiaPacific markets with more than US$2 billion (A$2.7 billion) in assets under management, provided the new funding line, True Green confirms. Burnvoir Corporate Finance Limited supplied financial advice for the raise, it adds. Environmental social and governance accelerator and active impact investor True Green Impact Group (True Green) will use the funds as growth capital for the Nexport Group, which is currently leading the clean mobility-tech evolution across Australia, it states. This includes boosted funding to support the NSW government with its transition to an electric bus fleet and to introduce a range of mobility product offerings to the corporate and consumer markets, it explains. The funding injection also supports the renaissance of clean-tech manufacturing in Australia with Nexport, as reported earlier, to establish a large-scale production facility at a 94-hectare eco-hub in the NSW Southern Highlands region of Moss Vale – being developed by the True Green Group, it confirms.
TRITIUM CONNECTION Following a recent Australian Financial 28
Review (AFR) report that cited Nexport Mobility planning to team up with charging group Tritium to make electric vehicles in Brisbane, True Green executive director Luke Todd – as he confirmed a $110 million funding injection – stated to the AFR: “We’re very excited about the recent Olympics news because we believe a key part of Brisbane and the Olympics is hopefully going to be the first zero-emission Olympics. “We’re in detailed discussions with Tritium about having a joint facility where we’ll be manufacturing EV products in Brisbane.” As the AFR reports, Todd describes Brisbane-headquartered Tritium as a “business cousin” because both Tritium, which makes fast-chargers for electric vehicles (EVs), and Nexport Mobility are backed by Trevor St Baker’s St Baker Energy Innovation Fund. It cites Nexport wanting to build a battery testing facility in Brisbane in partnership with Tritium, so it can demonstrate the safety of electric batteries. Todd told the AFR: “Hopefully, one day, if we’re making batteries in Australia, whether it’s us or ...some other entities,
this will be a facility that would be an open platform type facility where anyone could come along and our team of technicians would work with them to test the batteries.” The AFR report adds that Nexport also hopes to build electric buses and logistics trucks in Brisbane alongside Tritium’s manufacturing plant for charging stations. “That then starts to create this whole ecosystem of clean-tech industry that hopefully puts Brisbane, and other parts of Australia, on the map globally as a renowned trusted quality manufacturer of products and chargers.”
STATE OF ORIGIN Given his recent comments which seemed to focus on True Green’s EV endeavours in Queensland, ABC magazine asked Todd if this was a new focus, or was it still on NSW, or if there was some 60/40, 70/30 split either way envisaged for direction of True Green/Nexport funding and resources to both. “We are focused on NSW, VIC, QLD and also the ACT ... each is equally important,” Todd replied.
ABC August 2021 busnews.com.au
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16/08/2021 3:07:10 PM
