Aussies love utes. They have become synonymous with Australian culture and there are even festivals like the Denny Ute Muster that celebrate this love of the part car, part pickup truck.
Utes have consistently dominated 'top selling vehicles' lists with the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger claiming (and battling for) the top two positions for over 10 years now.
With the growing interest in electric vehicles, it comes as no surprise that each car brand has begun to announce their plans for offering electrified utes. There are limited options on the market today for Australian customers.
Here are the electric utes available or launching soon in Australia.
LDV eT60
The 2023 LDVV eT60 will mark a defining point in the Australian electric vehicle history with it being the first all-electric mass-produced ute to go on sale.
The Chinese electric ute has just gone on sale in New Zealand and is expected to reach Australian shores within the next 6 months.
Pricing is yet to be announced; however, it currently retails for $NZ79,990 drive-away and is expected to sit around the $AU60k-$75k mark here.
The ute features a maximum electric driving range of 325km and towing capacity of 1500kgs. It is important to note, when towing at maximum capacity, the driving range is halved.
Ford F150 Lightning
The F150 has been one of Ford’s all-time global best-selling vehicles. Ford have announced that they will bring the F150 to Australian showrooms mid-2023. Australians are excited by this news to say the least.
The Ford F150 Lightning is the brands electrified version of the vehicle. Marketing it as ‘more than you ever imagines from an ell-electric future’. The interest in the vehicle was overwhelming with them having to cut reservations at 200,000, over a year’s worth of production, to save customers from experiencing long waiting times.
Though there are no current plans for the electric model to come to Australia, it would be exciting to see this model on our roads.
Mitsubishi Triton PHEV or EV
Mitsubishi have confirmed that they are currently developing a plug-in hybrid and fully electric version of their beloved Triton.
After seeing the success of the electrified Ford F150, Mitsubishi lead engineer spearheading this EV development has expressed the brands interest in tapping into this success.
Though there is no date set for the launch of the electrified ute, the all-new 2023 Triton is expected to be released early 2023 with the plug-in hybrid variant likely to follow by the end of 2024.
Bonus: Tesla Cybertruck
It’s hard to forget the launch of the Tesla Cybertruck where Elon Musk showed off his futuristic vision of a ute.
There has been much confusion surrounding whether or not the vehicle would actually be available to Australian drivers. Order books were opened, and Australians were able to reserve their model on the website from late 2019, leading to customers believing it would be brought to the country.
However, since then Musk has announced that the Cybertruck would not be sold globally, and the vehicle order button was removed from the Australian website.
To add more fuel to the fire, the model is still featured on the Australian website.
No one really knows what goes on in Elon’s mind and it could very well change at any moment. Tesla Australia does not respond to any requests for clarification, we suspect because they do not even know themselves.
Our suggestion? Keep your eyes peeled to Elon’s twitter feed for any update of the Cybertruck’s availability in Australia.
In the meantime, are you interested in driving an electric vehicle or ute? Talk to our novated leasing specialists today here to learn how much you could save on your new car!