Applied Electric Vehicles (AEV), a company that makes electric freight and delivery vehicles, has raised US$40 million (A$57 million) in a Series B funding round.
More than half of the funding came from Australia’s National Reconstruction Fund (NRF), which invested $30.7 million. Other supporters include Barrenjoey, Japan Post Capital, Suzuki Motors Corporation, St Baker, and existing investors.
AEV is based in Melbourne and was founded in 2015. The company had earlier raised $40.5 million in 2022, including $21 million from Suzuki.
The new funding will be used to manufacture, launch, and expand the use of AEV’s autonomous electric vehicles, called “Blanc Robots,” across industries such as logistics and commercial operations.
AEV’s Generation 6 Blanc Robots have a driverless design with a flat, flexible chassis. They can be adapted for different uses and used in remote, dangerous, or hard-to-reach mining areas.
CEO and cofounder Julian Broadbent said other use cases include last mile logistics or industrial conditions that might be dull, dirty, difficult or dangerous for human drivers.
“This support not only accelerates our mission to scale the Blanc Robot and autonomous mobility solutions globally but also validates the vision that brought us here in the first place,” he said.
“When traditional automotive manufacturing left Australia, we saw an opportunity, tapping into the wealth of local engineering talent and building something truly innovative from the ground up.”
Under AEV’s current manufacturing plan, Suzuki Motor Corporation supplies the vehicle chassis for its autonomous vehicles.
AEV then builds and installs its own electronic systems and software in Australia, turning the vehicles into fully autonomous machines.
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