New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) in China

Lethe said:

This vehicle is so important for BYD in Australia, where Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger are the two best-selling vehicles. Ford is #4 here by sales YTD and 85% of those sales are either Ranger or the Ranger-derived Everest. At the moment the local ute market is almost entirely devoid of electrification too. LDV offers an undercooked and overpriced electric version of the T60... and that's it. But timing is crucial. In the next 12-24 months there will be PHEV Ranger, mild-hybrid Hilux, hybrid Mitsubishi Triton, probably other developments also. No doubt BYD will deliver a solid vehicle, but if they can also beat local competitors to offering a (credible) electrified ute, that would be huge from a PR standpoint.

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PeoplesPoster said:

use case for an electric UTE will be problematic and limited to urban and suburbs. How are you going to recharge out in the middle of nowhere, as far as towing, as we've seen with the ford and rivian trucks, it greatly reduces range.

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Lethe said:

The overwhelming majority of utes sold in Australia are classified in the US as "mid-size pickup trucks", i.e. they are smaller than the "full-size" Ford F-150, RAM 1500, Toyota Tundra, etc. that dominate the American market. That said, the Ranger, Hilux, D-Max etc. are still certainly larger than I would prefer and I don't know how they compare internationally. Prior to the collapse of Holden and the end of Ford manufacturing in Australia, both Ford and Holden offered popular sedan-based utes that were several hundred kilos lighter than the ladder-frame vehicles that now populate the roads, while still perfectly adequate and in some cases even preferable for the light tradesperson roles they were typically purchased for. If it were the case that BYD's ute is marginally smaller than its competitors, I'm not even sure that would be a problem.

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HighGround said:

Vast majority of people with UTEs and trucks don't actually do those things. If I bought a truck (I'm thinking of buying an EV one in the next few years), it's only for occasional towing, and mostly just moving big things/building materials. I am very rarely going to go out into the wilderness more than 100 miles away from the nearest charging station.

If I wanted to go to Mount Rainier to camp, it's only 55 miles away from an EV charging station.

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dingyibvs said:

Yeah but it can be a big PITA when you do tow, as your range could be less than 100 miles if you're towing something big. If you don't have reliable access to very fast chargers you could be spending an hour charging for every hour you're driving if not more. That's a pretty big deal even if you do it only occasionally. No one wants to spend an extra hour charging each way when you go away on a weekend trip, for example.

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