One of Australia’s leading car brands has announced it will build an electric ute and it has heaped pressure on some big sellers to follow suit. See all the utes that could go electric soon.
Ford has a lot riding on the electric version of its best-selling F-150 pickup truck. WSJ’s Nora Eckert visited Ford’s Experience Center outside Detroit for an exclusive ride in the F-150 Lightning to see how the automaker aims to win over both early adopters and more of its gas pickup drivers. Illustration: Reshad Malekzai/WSJ
Kia recently announced plans to launch a ute in the local in 2025 and have an electric version on the road the year after.
Australia’s third most popular car brand is the first major carmaker to announce concrete plans for a plug-in pick-up truck. The announcement will put pressure on Toyota and Ford to accelerate their EV ute plans.
Utes are big business in Australia, making up more than 200,000 sales a year, or one in five new vehicle sales. The Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger are the number one and two selling vehicles in the country.
Australians buy utes in huge numbers every year.
Traditionally a work vehicle, they have morphed into family and recreational vehicles since the demise of the homegrown Falcon and Commodore.
At the moment there is only one electric ute available in the country, the Chinese-made LDV eT60, and it is prohibitively expensive at a whopping $92,990 drive away. That’s double the price of the diesel-powered version.
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It also has a towing limit of just 1000kg, compared with 3500kg for the HiLux and Ranger.
Kia Australia’s chief executive Damien Meredith said initial EV ute sales would be modest but could make up as much as 20 per cent of the model mix within a couple of years.
Kia’s new ute has been seen testing overseas.
“Kia Australia wants to get as many EV models across the range as we possibly can and yes, this enthusiasm extends to an electric ute.”
Meredith last year told website “the Driven” the Kia ute would be able to tow at least 2.5 tonnes, be available in two-wheel and four-wheel-drive variants and have vehicle to load capability, which would allow tradies to charge their power tools from the ute.
Toyota said it has been trialling electric utes overseas.
Toyota’s head of sales and marketing, Sean Hanley, said the company had publicly announced trials of electric HiLuxes overseas.
“We are further along than some groups give us credit for,” he said.
Ford has also confirmed an electric Ranger is on the drawing board. The current Ranger platform was designed from the outset to accommodate an electric motor and battery.
A local spokesman said: “We’ve future-proofed the platform for electrification”.
The new Ford ranger has been developed to run on electric power in the future.
EV Council chief executive Behyad Jafari said the Kia announcement would worry Ford and Toyota.
“I think now they’re in a position where they’re looking and saying: ‘Well, if we don’t hurry up and bring a similar product to the market, just how many sales are we going to give away to our competitors?’”
Jafari acknowledged that early electric utes would not suit all ute buyers.
“I’m not going to say that that’s going to be the answer for 100 per cent of the ute market but absolutely there’ll be a portion of the ute market that this will be right for and people will make that shift,” he said.
“So when an electric ute does come out, it doesn’t need to be judged on whether it can suit absolutely everybody, it’s can it suit some people? Then the next one will suit some more people and over time, it can benefit everyone.”
The electric Ford F150 Lightning can power tools and campsites.
Ford’s electric F150 has proved a hit because it has a lockable storage area where the diesel engine used to be.
The lack of a secure area to put grocery bags and other valuables has always limited the appeal of utes as family vehicles.
The ability to run power tools and campsites off the vehicle’s on-board battery will also increase the appeal.
AUSTRALIA’S FIRST ELECTRIC UTE
Anthony Madani, a field coordinator for Transgrid, which has just taken delivery of its first electric ute. Picture: Christian Gilles
Anthony Madani is the last person you’d expect to embrace the EV revolution.
The field co-ordinator for energy infrastructure provider Transgrid has a collection of 24 high-powered cars dating back to Ford’s iconic 70s muscle car, the Falcon GT.
Madani said he was “sceptical” when his work asked him to take part in a trial of the LDV workhorse, the first electric ute sold in Australia.
“I’m quite impressed with what they’ve come up with,” he said.
He said the ute’s 300km range wasn’t an issue, as it was operating in an urban environment.
“It’s extremely rare that you’re going to be doing that range within a day,” he said.
He was also impressed by the quietness and the absence of diesel fuel.
“With electric cars, it’s one of the greatest benefits – not having those fumes. It’s really, really quiet as well.”
His final verdict?
“I’d honestly give it the thumbs up. I think they’ve done a pretty reasonable job … for the first electric ute,” he said.