South Otago agricultural entrepreneur Alex de Boer continues to reinvent himself.
"There’s a whole history, man — I have reinvented myself so many times."
His latest venture includes designing and manufacturing a lithium iron phosphate battery to install in electric four-wheel-drive farm vehicles he sells in Invercargill.
The Electric Motor Vehicle Company is the latest in a long list of southern business ventures for the entrepreneur.
Born in Indonesia, the son of Dutch parents, he was 6 years old when his family moved to New Zealand.
His father worked his way up in the dairy industry, after securing work in Thames Valley.
After Alex graduated with a science degree from the University of Auckland, he worked for the Ford Motor Company, helping build a plant to assemble Falcons and Escorts in the City of Sails.
He left Ford for a job as an industrial engineer at Alex Harvey Industry and became a "trouble-shooter", solving problems at its about 50 companies across New Zealand.
"Some had production line problems or management problems."
In the role, he was seconded to Dunedin company George and Ashton. George and Ashton was struggling to meet a contract to build refrigerated containers for the Shipping Corporation of New Zealand.
He helped them easily meet the deadline and, at age 26, accepted a permanent management position at George and Ashton.
"I rang my wife up — we’d only been married about a month — and said "Wendy, we’re moving to Dunedin’."
Business was good and the company built about 10,000 containers for clients.
Staff worked all hours in five factories producing containers and fibreglass truck bodies in Dunedin.
"It was around the clock — we never stopped."
When New Zealand manufacturers lost some export incentives, Alex Harvey Industry announced it was closing George and Ashton to consolidate its business in Auckland.
He was among a syndicate who bought the business in the early 1980s to save the jobs of "a lot of trained staff and good people".
The business stayed open for a few years but it closed due a rapid rise of inflation, interest rates and labour costs, making it challenging to compete against overseas companies.
"The South Koreans and the Chinese could put a container together for less than the cost of our raw materials and I could see the writing on the wall."
After closing George and Ashton, he worked as a consulting engineer, helping companies increase efficiencies.
He then set up a production-line to manufacture housing materials to build homes.
His business involved buying sections and then working with a family to get a house built they could afford.
"I used to design a house around that budget, which was quite unique in those days."
Nearly 30 homes were built but his business model no longer stacked up in Dunedin in about 2007.
"It was costing more to build a house than you could sell it for."
After closing the house manufacturing business, he bought a 210ha hill-country sheep and beef farm in Balclutha and a more than 40ha Angus stud in Owaka.
The stud was named Honeystone.
He bought a 20-ton digger and a truck to install a central lane through the Owaka property, similar to those on a dairy farm, to make it easier to run the farm by himself, without a need for working dogs.
Other farm improvements included installing a wintering barn.
"I got sick of watching our big heavy cattle trampling the land in winter."
On the farm, he spread liquid seaweed, which made the pasture a vibrant dark green and was cheaper than spreading nitrogen.
"I’ve always believed if you feed the soil, the soil will feed the plants and the plants will feed you."
The farm system included buying store lambs in late May and selling them for more than twice the price three months later.
When he realised neither his son Haden nor daughter Carla was interested in taking over the farm business, he sold most of it about a decade ago.
He retained more than 3ha and gave it to his daughter to develop her market garden business Basil and Baylys in Owaka.
The name includes a nod to his wife Wendy, who was raised at Baylys Beach in Dargaville and grows nearly 100 varieties of heritage tomatoes for the business.
The development of the market garden included the father and daughter building a 42m by 6m insulated tunnel, 12m by 12m shade house and a shed.
He loved the time spent designing and building the market garden with his daughter.
"Spending those weekends with her were just adorable."
When a church neighbouring the market garden was listed for sale, he bought it and produce was sold from it using an honesty box system.
Operating a market garden was not a way to get rich for his daughter and wife, he said.
"They love what they do and they love producing food and it means I eat pretty healthy."
After exiting farming, he continued working as a financial adviser from a building he bought in Fox St, Invercargill.
He first worked as a financial adviser when he was building houses in Dunedin.
The Invercargill building had a vacant showroom space so he decided to use it to launch The Electric Motor Vehicle Company, about six years ago.
A reason for deciding to sell electric vehicles was climate change becoming a hot topic and people wanting to reduce their carbon footprint.
"I wanted to be part of it."
He started importing electric cars and demand was strong as people accepted a government subsidy to buy them.
When the subsidy was ditched, he decided to diversify his business.
He began buying electric bikes wholesale but the retail profit margin was too slim to be worth the effort.
To cut out a supplier, he developed a dozen models of electric bikes, working directly with a Chinese manufacturer.
He also bought the distribution rights to sell Hisun electric four-wheel-drive "ultra terrain vehicles" or UTVs, about five years ago.
To avoid expensive insurance premiums to ship vehicles containing a lithium iron phosphate battery, he got his UTVs shipped without a battery about a year ago.
"Then it is not a dangerous good."
The vehicles were assembled in a building on the outskirts of Invercargill, including installing a modular lithium iron phosphate battery he designed and manufactured.
By making the battery, it was easier and quicker to maintain than a battery made in China.
An electric UTV produced more torque than a petrol equivalent, he said.
A UTV could use carry multiple batteries and each had a range of about 80km travelling on an undulating road, he said.
The UTVs had been proven to be able to handle New Zealand farming conditions.
Farmers often doubted his claims but changed their view after driving one.
