Electric utes are coming, but does anyone who actually buys utes care? | Opinion

Electric cars are finally winning Australians over, with more than 65,000 new EVs delivered to customers this year so far. For commuting and relatively short distances, electric cars have plenty of advantages over their combustion engine counterparts - but what about for everything else?

While more than 170,000 utes have made their way onto worksites and driveways around Australia this year so far, likely closer to 200,000 by the time you read this, almost none of those have been electric. In fact, to the end of September this year, only 140 electric light-commercial vehicles were sold, and that includes vans and buses.

So why isn't the 7.3 per cent of new EV uptake in Australia this year making its way to the light-commercial segment, where uptake is just 0.07 per cent?

Any clever fleet buyer will probably do so on one of two main criteria: low cost or proven reliability. So far in Australia, it looks like electric utes have neither of those boxes ticked.

And that's not to say electric utes won't be reliable, but the proof is yet to be seen.

Anecdotes of electric trucks' ranges dropping even more dramatically than some might expect once towing - as well as apparent actual tests - in the US will be enough to make someone second guess ditching the tried and tested diesel, as bad as we know it is for the air around us.

The other main point is the price - buying an electric car is something of an investment in comfort and capability, but given the drawbacks of electric utes when considering things like towing and load-carrying, paying tens of thousands more to go electric is an appealing sacrifice.

And we know they won't be cheap. Not for quite some time, at least.

So far the only ‘cheap' electric cars are relatively small, with low power outputs and relatively short electric driving ranges, two things that aren't conducive to the kinds of work and play demanded of dual-cabs by tradies and families.

The only electric ute on sale at the moment isn't a 4x4, has just 130kW/310Nm, and a claimed range of 330km. Oh, and it costs more than a 292kW Ford Ranger Raptor by more than $6000. It's the LDV eT60, and it costs $92,990 before on-roads.

For now, as much as it seems like it might be a cop out, despite Toyota's clear and quite honest ‘not a hybrid' messaging, light electrification on diesel utes or petrol hybrid utes could be the way forward - depending on the use case by case.

Ideally, a little more electrification than a 48V battery - say, the same kind of hybrid drivetrains the brand uses for its RAV4. A hybrid ute still comes with more complications that could arise during a hard-working life, but it allays a lot of the concerns with electric utes at this stage.

In reality, utes with some kind of combustion back-up in a country that's very much built on reliance on ICEs outside of metropolitan areas are still mostly likely to draw in buyers, and will be for some time.