Mistakes were made on LDV eT60: Ateco

LDV Australia admits that its first foray into electric commercial vehicles with the eT60 ute was not its finest moment.

The electric dual-cab eT60, which is still on sale today at an eye-watering $92,990 plus on-road costs, was panned by motoring journalists across the board for feeling unfinished, poorly executed and with an asking price well over the odds.

Seemingly, LDV Australia and its parent distributor Ateco Group knows that the eT60 was more miss than hit.

“We didn't try and push it, it wasn't a good utility,” said Ateco Group executive chair Neville Crichton.

“It was a shithouse. It was a battery car – it was an old petrol car, with an electric motor put in the diff, it was never designed from the ground up as an electric car,” Mr Crichton frankly stated at the launch of the brand’s newest electric product, the LDV eDeliver 7.

“The next generation – I can promise you – will be.”

LDV Australia general manager Dinesh Chinappa said the brand has used its experiences with the eT60 to shape what is expected for future battery electric vehicle (BEV) models, including a next-generation dual-cab ute due here early 2025.

“You don't wake up on Monday and be able to design a car like that,” he said, pointing at the eDeliver 7 van. “You've got to go through the learning experience of doing the step, by step, by step.

“So if you take the van, the first electric van built by SMCV (SAIC Motor Commercial Vehicles) was on the V80 platform and it was like eT60, it was rudimentary. It was potentially primitive. But they had to do it because you’ve got to learn the process,” he said.

“Then they built the G10 version, then they built the Deliver 9 version. And now they've built this thing.”

Mr Chinappa said the brand, and he himself, is confident that the new electric ute (codenamed GST) will be a far more compelling choice for buyers in the industry or sole traders when it launches.

“LDV Australia will place those orders through SAIC Motor Commercial Vehicles this year, for the electric ute. We will probably not have SOP (start of production) until next year,” he said.

“I’ve seen the GST in clay models, I’ve also seen it in early prototype format, seen it at the Shanghai show, and I’ve just seen what they can deliver with the eDeliver 7, and I’m comfortable,” said Mr Chinappa.

However, little of the GST concept model, revealed at the 2023 Shanghai motor show, is likely to be carried to reality.

That show car exhibited a quad-motor setup churning out a claimed 746kW and 14,000Nm, with a 0-100km/h claim of three seconds, and a 1000km range from its semi-solid state battery back.

Maybe it will carry a similar price tag to the existing eT60 if some of those elements make production.

Mr Chinappa indicated that the business has been assisted by feedback from its fleet partners for both the eT60 ute and the electric eDeliver 9 large van, and can tailor its own adjustments to the model line-up based on that sort of feedback.

“That's the beauty of the eT60 and the Deliver 9. We've spent the last year-and-a-half, two years, talking to all these people. And in all honesty, the eT60 buyers have been a few mining sites and stuff like that.

“They've needed to go through what we've gone through. They've had a couple of electric eT60s in their sites. It's raised questions around sparking and the possibility of ignition and all those sorts of issues, right?” said Mr Chinappa.

“Then on the side, they've got to deal with electricity delivery. How do we get the electricity? All of the learnings that they had to go through, so when the (new-generation electric ute) comes about, half the questions have been answered.

“They already know the basics of what it's going to take to start operating an electric vehicle onsite. So they’ve got to go through it as well,” said Mr Chinappa.

LDV has confirmed that the new-gen ute range will kick off with a BEV model, with a diesel version to come about 12 months later. The eDeliver 7 van just launched will go it alone for about 12 months before a diesel version, known as Deliver 7, will come to market.

As for the new eDeliver 7 van, Mr Crichton seemed a lot more positive about its potential in the market.

“We've got the pricing right, we think we've got the package incredibly good. And as Dinesh said, the volumes, I think you will be astounded,” Mr Crichton said.

LDV has launched the new-generation eDeliver 7 van from $59,990 before on-road costs for ABN holders, with four derivatives available and two different battery sizes.

For the first month of 2024, the existing (and ageing) LDV G10+ model was the second-best selling van in the midsize van market, with 261 units sold. The Toyota HiAce ranks number one in the segment, with a January 2024 result of 647 units.

Meanwhile, the eT60 tallied just four units in January 2024.