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BYD-BACKED E-BUS MANUFACTURING SITE ACQUIRED<br />
A PROPOSED $700 million e-bus<br />
and e-vehicle manufacturing hub<br />
in the NSW Southern Highlands –<br />
backed by Chinese manufacturer<br />
BYD – is a step closer after<br />
‘cleantech’ company TruGreen’s<br />
subsidiary Nexport secured a<br />
51-hectare Moss Vale site.<br />
As the Australian Financial Review<br />
(AFR) reported, the site south-west<br />
of Sydney aims to be at the forefront<br />
of a revival of local manufacturing,<br />
with as many as 2,000 new skilled<br />
jobs envisaged for the entity.<br />
According to the AFR, Nexport<br />
chief executive Luke Todd confirms<br />
the 51-hectare site at an industrial<br />
estate at Moss Vale in the Southern<br />
Highlands had been acquired for<br />
the manufacturing operation as<br />
it aims to become a big player in<br />
making electric buses and vehicles.<br />
Nexport is the largest supplier of<br />
electric buses in Australia, it states,<br />
and uses electric vehicle technology<br />
developed by BYD.<br />
Todd says the group was tapping<br />
into the big shift towards rebuilding<br />
Australia’s manufacturing base, and<br />
an industry of the future in electric<br />
vehicles.<br />
Nexport “wanted to be part of<br />
a manufacturing renaissance, in<br />
line with the push by the federal<br />
government to ensure that an<br />
economic revival coming out of the<br />
pandemic was accelerated”, the AFR<br />
explains.<br />
“It was already in the works but<br />
we have taken the opportunity to<br />
escalate and expedite and deepen<br />
our investment,” Todd said.<br />
“We are 100 per cent<br />
Australian-owned.”<br />
Other investors include Rod<br />
Casson, who built up a large<br />
motorcycle accessories business<br />
with his brother, which they sold in<br />
2017 for $123 million to ASX-listed<br />
MotorCycle Holdings, the AFR states.<br />
The Halifax family office has also<br />
taken a stake, it reports.<br />
Above:<br />
Nexport chief<br />
executive<br />
Luke Todd<br />
says the Moss<br />
Vale industrial<br />
production site<br />
itself would be a<br />
zero-emissions<br />
site and would be<br />
producing buses,<br />
trucks, vans and<br />
passenger vehicles<br />
when it was at full<br />
strength.<br />
The New South Wales government<br />
has begun the long process of<br />
electrification of its fleet of 8000<br />
buses, it adds.<br />
Todd says the Moss Vale industrial<br />
production site itself would be a<br />
zero-emissions site and would be<br />
producing buses, trucks, vans and<br />
passenger vehicles when it was at<br />
full strength.<br />
He said Nexport and TrueGreen<br />
were aiming to attract other<br />
“cleantech” businesses to the site.<br />
busnews.com.au November 2020 <strong>ABC</strong><br />
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