You’ll find the team at EV Automotive at most electric vehicle shows in 2024 as they continue to promote the range of electric vans and buses that are slowly making their way into local fleets. At Everything Electric they two different vehicles on display. An electric utility for less than $40,000; and a brand new SUV that landed the day before the show opened.
It was also the first big expo for new CEO Jack Puzin, so I stopped by the EV Automotive stand to ask a few questions about the electric ute which had been capturing everyone’s attention.
So Jack, we’re looking at your new single cab electric ute, and you’ve got a new segment name for the industry. What are you calling it?
I’m nicknaming it the ultra light commercial vehicle because it fits in a category that doesn’t exist at the moment. If you wanted to do something with a tray, you’d either buy a dual cab, like a Triton, or you’d be up in the next category with a four tonne truck, this is in between that.
So this is a tool of trade vehicle. It’s not your tradie ute that you take home and use for your family on the weekend. But it’s priced in that segment as well as being a tool of trade vehicle.
The introductory price is $40,000, or $39,990. But the interesting thing this vehicle is quite basic with the trim inside the cabin, but it takes a tonne of load capacity with a couple of pallets in the back. You get 200- 300kms in range, and it’s ready to work straightaway. It suits applications such as councils, parks and gardens, wineries, farmers, it’s something you throw your tools in the back, go to a job, come back, plug it in, and you’re done.
So it comes with a body on the chassis ready, ready to work?
It comes in four variations and they’re all around the $40,000 price point. So it’s very affordable for fleet owners and other buyers to make a EV decision.
This one is a single cab tray, a double skin tray which is super heavy duty, and the chassis rails go right to the very back so you can put your load at the very back. A lot of utes that have an aluminium tray don’t come with chassis rails that go the length of the tray.
The four variations are a single cab tray, dual cab tray, a minivan which is quite small and may suit some fleet buyers, and also a box truck which we think is going to be quite popular as well.
A lot of the light commercial dual cab utes that are popular with fleet buyers come with a five star ANCAP rating, what are your expectations for this vehicle?
We’re currently going through the certification request and testing as we speak. So I expect this car to be available on the market with an ANCAP rating later this year. We don’t have the rating yet, however the goal is to have it rated to suit the market.
