In a shock move truck industry executive, Bill Gillespie has resigned from his role as president Asia Pacific for electric vehicle start up SEA Electric after two years in the position.
Gillespie took up the role after he resigned from Hino Australia where he was vice president of sales and network development.
He said he had made the decision to move on from SEA Electric after playing a key role in the establishment of the brand in Australia and overseeing its development into a full OEM in Australia.
“I moved from Hino Australia in March 2021 to SEA Electric to grow the SEA brand within the region,” said Gillespie.
“Shortly after that SEA gained approval to bring SKD chassis in from Hino Japan which was a world first for both Hino and for SEA Electric,” he said.
“The Australian dealer network was established in 2019 to sell and provide after sales support in this new EV truck frontier,” he added.
“After starting the EV project within Hino Australia and with support from HML global in 2018, progress was swift from the first waste management truck for Cleanaway in Melbourne,” Gillespie said.
“That structure exists successfully today and is a huge part in setting the SEA brand as something special in Australia with great customer support
And along the way there have been many firsts arrived in the past two years with the recent announcement of the world’s first fully electric Aircraft refueler for AirBP operating out of Brisbane Airport.
“Additionally, we brought a number of strategic partnerships to the business with Ampol, NTI and most recently Zurich insurance all designed to grow the SEA customer value proposition,” said Gillespie.
“In my view the SEA business is ready to grow and take full advantage of the recent growth in zero emission trucks and move to its next phase of lag scale sales and production,” he added.
“It’s been a great pleasure and a rare privilege to be a vital part of the establishment of the brand in Australia and to oversee its development into a full OEM in Australia,” he added
T&B News. understands Gillespie may be moving to another truck company and believe that there may be an announcement sometime in the next week.
