Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks converted to right-hand drive by Australian firm AUSEV, which went into receivership in March, are now available to purchase from Eagers-owned business, easyauto123.
The dealer franchise says it has obtained a bulk order of F-150 Lightnings, which it’s selling under its ‘Factory Fresh’ program and backing with a three-year vehicle warranty and a three-year battery warranty.
It says these are “almost-new, not brand new” vehicles with “crazy-low kilometres, no prior private ownership, and condition very close to new”.
Examples of the Lightning Pro are priced from $120,990 drive-away in Queensland with a 98kWh battery, and $141,490 drive-away with a 131kWh battery.
CarExpert can save you thousands on a new car. Click here to get a great deal.
Both feature a dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain, with the smaller-battery variant producing 337kW of power and 1050Nm of torque, a claimed 386km of range and a braked towing capacity of 2500kg.
The larger-battery variant produces 433kW and 1050Nm, with 515km of range and 4500kg of braked towing capacity.
easyauto123 advertises payload figures of 1430kg and 1294kg respectively, though AUSEV claimed only a one-tonne payload.
Just a day before its BossCap parent was placed into receivership, AUSEV advertised its converted F-150 Lightning with a base price of $109,990 before on-road costs.
All examples obtained by easyauto123 have had recall work “carried out to manufacturer standards” by right-hand drive conversion specialist Performax, which had itself previously converted F-150s – albeit combustion-powered ones – to right-hand drive.
BossCap went into receivership on March 17, blaming a “sudden change in global production strategy from Ford” which had announced the end of F-150 Lightning production, and confirmed it was “unable to undertake warranty repair works”.
A week later on March 24, AUSEV issued a nationwide product safety recall warning the owners of 146 F-150 Lightning vehicles not to use DC fast-chargers due to the risk of being burnt by overheated charge port pins and to instead charge their vehicles using AC power.
However, owners encountered bounce-backs when they emailed AUSEV’s info address, and calls to the company’s phone number were automatically forwarded to voicemail. The AUSEV website also no longer loads.
A subsequent March 30 update to the original recall notice directed owners to have their vehicles repaired by Performax.
“In the interests of public safety Performax has offered their services to rectify vehicles affected by this recall,” said the updated recall notice.
However, it added that because Performax “did not design or modify these vehicles or supply them to the Australian market… A cost may be incurred for these repairs”.
It’s unclear just how many F-150 Lightnings are available to purchase via easyauto123, which has locations in every Australian state (but none in the territories).
As for servicing, easyauto123 says: “You’re buying through easyauto123, part of ASX-listed Eagers Automotive, Australia’s largest automotive retail group.
“That means access to a national network, with support and servicing pathways you can rely on.”
MORE: Australian EV conversion firm collapses, Ford blamedMORE: MORE: Explore the Ford F-150 showroom
