EV Ute are on their way to Australia
Last week the US EV fightback started with the Slate, budget, simple and build it yourself, 1980’s HiLux Look alike.
Not expected here soon, but without much digging what I did find was this announcement from Japanese light commercial favourite, Isuzu. The new D Max EV is about to commence right hand drive production for the Thai market and is slated for Australia later in 2026.
The D-Max ute has been a top 4 seller in Australia, Chat GPG tells me it’s because it’s a reliable workhorse – I don’t disagree.
And then, surprise, surprises, this announcement from Isuzu, a Japanese company mind you, that they had recently commenced production of the right hand version of the new Electric D-Max in Thailand.
It was first seen at the Bangkok Auto Show last year, so can’t be far away from launch in the Australian market.
The important numbers look very good, 2,300kg dry weight, payload , 1,000kg and towing weight, the big 3,500kg.
And since it looks exactly like an evolution of the previous D-Max, Tradies, you don’t even have to admit its an EV. Plus, hopefully it’s got power point in the back, to charge your Dewalt boombox…
But this is just the start
But this is just the start, EV utes are going are coming thick and fast. After all it makes sense, the majority are used as, well a truck, doing a constant, but short, home, worksite, bunnings circuit every day.
Already, if you want to go EV and you want to go big, you can go Ford Lightning, converted for local markets by AusEV,
selling to all sorts, where EV’s make a difference – mining, aviation, maybe even property developers one day!
You’ve seen this one before in US markets, but the right hand drive is now fully compliant for Australia.
And this curious new Multitruck from Changan
And this curious new “Ute” entrant from Changan, The Deepal E07 is coming to Australia soon too. It was a show favourite at the recent Everything Electric in Sydney,perhape resulting in it’s lauch here. Changan say it’s a multitruck, part hatchback, part ute.
It’s got innovations that make it more practical and versatile than anything else we’ve seen. Perhaps this is what Australia want!
And plenty more to come
And from LDV, who had a very unsuccessful go with a ute a while back, less said the better, currently have the eT60 on sale locally and waiting in the wings now for Australian launch is Maxus eTerron 9 EV ute.
Don’t forget LDV, Maxus and MG are all brands by SAIC so different names are used in the media to report these.
This one looks like a specialist EV design, Rivian style – edgey but still tradesmanlike. And don’t forget Maxus has been selling a previous gen EV ute, the T90 in Chile for a couple of years now.
And there’s plenty more in the pipeline, like the Riddara from Geely, so, as we write in early 2025, the EV ute market is only just taking off.
Just a matter of weaning of the cash cow that is the petrol ute market – cheap and easy to make, almost zero tech, and non compliance with passenger car standards, they are very profitable – why would manufacturers change?
