For some drivers, there is one speed bump on the transition to zero-emission transport: the scarcity of options for their beloved utes.
While the first battery-powered utility arrived in Australia last year, a lack of competition in the local market remains an issue.
But groups are stepping in to address the country’s unique electric vehicle obstacle, proving what the next generation of utes can do, advocating for policy change and creating a lucrative industry converting high-polluting diesel utes into zero-emission vehicles.
The latter move, experts say, is bringing vehicle manufacturing back to the country and could lead to vital electric car components being made locally.
The first step to addressing the electric ute problem was simple for transport campaigner Ajaya Haikerwal: to show drivers in regional Australia what the new vehicles could do.
He leads Solar Citizens’ Electric Ute Roadshow, which involves driving a blue and yellow LDV eT60 electric ute between Melbourne and Sydney, stopping in towns and talking to residents as well as offering curious motorists a test drive.
The response from drivers has ranged from curiosity to surprise.
“We drive this giant ute into town that just glides quietly past people and heads turn and people look at it like ‘what is this thing?’,” he said.
Torque of the town
Mr Haikerwal said those who drove the electric ute were often shocked by its immediate torque, while others did not know electric utes were available in Australia.
Bringing more of the battery-powered vehicles to the country was vital, he added, as many drivers would not swap their utes for other electric cars.
“Someone who drives a Ford Ranger is not going to buy a small electric vehicle,” Mr Haikerwal said.
“Those people who love their utes will not give them up unless there’s something better to replace them.”
Utes are Australia’s second highest selling style of vehicle behind medium-sized SUVs, making up almost 22 per cent of all car sales in the last three months of 2022.
Just two of the 56,188 utes sold in Australia during that time were electric.
But more options are on the way, including five electric utes slated to launch by 2025 from makers such as Kia, GWM and Fisker.
Across the ditch, New Zealand is expected to receive even more electric ute options, such as the popular American Ford F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T models, after introducing fuel-efficiency standards this year.
MEVCO chief executive officer Matt Cahir said demand for electric utes did not just come from drivers but also from companies looking to reduce their carbon footprints and meet environmental goals, particularly in the mining sector.
The Gold Coast-based company recently showed off a Toyota HiLux it had converted from diesel to electric, driving the vehicle from Melbourne to Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.
He said the response from businesses and the public was overwhelming.
Deluge of orders
“In Western Australia, it was like all hell broke loose,” he said.
“We talked to 44 mining companies over five days, had 270 drivers drive it and nearly 5000 trucks ordered in one week.
“We actually had to tell a company halfway through the week that we couldn’t take their order and they got really angry.”
MEVCO recently signed a $1 billion deal with Victorian firm SEA Electric to convert 8500 diesel Toyota HiLux utes into electric vehicles over five years.
SEA will provide the power system for the vehicles, while MEVCO has enlisted other Australian companies to perform parts of the conversion.
Mr Cahir said high demand and a lack of supply was forcing Australian companies to create their own vehicle-manufacturing ecosystem, years after traditional car-makers left the country.
Similar demand is being experienced at Roev, a Queensland vehicle conversion startup that co-founder Noah Wasmer said had been overwhelmed with orders.
“We have hundreds and hundreds of reservations just in fleets that we’re working with right now,” he said.
Global demand
“They have over 20,000 utes that they want and we’re working aggressively to get the first thousand out the door in the next 12 to 18 months.”
Mr Wasmer recently told the Electric Transport Industry Transformation Forum in Brisbane the company was also developing ways to simplify electric vehicle conversions and saw an opportunity to market appropriate kits.
“We see this just like an evolution of Henry Ford that we could start to develop these kits, distribute them globally, and now we have interest in South America, Peru, Mexico, all through the world, to take our technology,” he said.
Mr Cahir said MEVCO’s converted electric utes were undergoing safety testing and its first shipment was expected to be ready in three to four months.
But the company still faces significant challenges to meet demand, including sourcing enough diesel vehicles to convert.
“We’re buying any HiLux that comes on to the market through the Toyota dealer channels,” he said.
“We’re also converting existing fleets where vehicles are less than 12 months old and reach our minimum conditions.”
Mr Haikerwal said ultimately buyers were likely to want to buy new electric utes and Australia needed policies to encourage manufacturers to import or build them here.
Without fuel-efficiency standards, he said, supply of electric utes for the local market would not get priority over other countries.
“We’re currently in a completely different queue for electric vehicles than the rest of the world,” he said.
“We need to get on the same page … and we’ve only got a limited time to do that.”
-AAP
