The petrol proponents and diesel diehards reckon you can’t take EVs off-road. SolarQuotes has news for them.
With a full battery and all expenses spared, I loaded up and took the cheapest EV in Australia to our secret off-road test facility. The results couldn’t have been clearer.
It’s been a long time since I updated the chronicles of super-budget EV motoring, but with new and exciting upcoming episodes, we’d better get on with the most entertaining one I’ve had in a while.
First, We Need Some Contrast
Consultancy Strategic Vision surveyed over 250,000 pickup truck owners in the United States. I found the results quite interesting:
- 75% never use their truck1 to tow something.
- 70% never go off-road.
These are the numbers owners anonymously admitted to.
Knowing many of these dual cab off-road tough trucks are in fact mainly used for getting groceries and doing the school run, I thought I’d better get my tiny electric Japanese kei car and do some decent off-roading to compensate for… something.
Fun Fact: Incentivised by tax breaks, Kei cars are a class of their own in Japan. Even though the incentives have been wound back they still represent 30 or 40% of the Japanese domestic market.
When you think about it, the war on the weekend never really stood a chance against the marketing hyperbole car makers use to entice people into totally inappropriate suburban transport.
There still begs a question in my mind though, just like the chicken or egg, is it the Ranger? or is it the type who’s likely to buy one?
A Ford ute driver has ended up with a face full of airbags after he rammed a Jaguar in a road rage incident on a busy West Terrace street.
The impatient driver nudged the Jaguar with his front bumper just around 2pm yesterday, before ramming the front car again with greater… pic.twitter.com/ePsDsOAhUt
— 10 News First Adelaide (@10NewsFirstAdl) April 20, 2023
Sitting outside a pizza place for tea last night, it’s no wonder that I overheard a young bloke complaining about paying $530/month for insurance on his Ranger. I have about 11 special interest wheels insured for less money.
What’s priceless was his girlfriend’s reaction to our little Kei van as we pulled away. Her smiles said it was so cute she would have killed for a ride in this car, his look could have killed me.
Ram, Rogue, Gladiator, Raptor, Warrior… iMiev?
You couldn’t tell from the name, but I’ll admit that I’m the odd one out there because my choice of svelte SUV manliness is only two-wheel drive, no lockers, no limited slip. I mean, other than the 47 kW of raw power—that’s a limit, I guess.
You might think this would render a bloke pretty impotent in deep soft sand, but here’s proof that low morals and low tyre pressure will get you a lot further than you think.
Serene mode engaged, Irene floats effortlessly over the soft sand.
Legendary Landcruiser; Lols..!
Camped nearby, we heard the drone of a hard-working diesel being ground to a halt. I swear this was not in any way set up. You’d see by the “put that camera away” facial expressions if I had dared zoom in.
What’re you doing with that camera?
Knowing the terrain, our very experienced farm hand engaged four-wheel drive, picked up some pace, and made a couple of valiant attempts at this very same sandhill on the very same day.
Hilarity ensued.
It takes surprisingly little to stop a car in soft sand
Being used to a modern four-wheel drive (one that doesn’t have buggy springs), they forgot the front hubs don’t engage automatically, so this was effectively rear-wheel drive ute… just like Irene the iMiev.
At least it wasn’t bogged to the axles when we turned up with some long-handled spades.
Note the dust raised by all four wheels now digging in the sand
So despite the big diesel power, big ground clearance, and the big tyres, this rig couldn’t make it up the incline.
Maybe more speed, less tyre pressure, or more aggressive tyres would have helped. In the end, there was shovelling involved to get the show back on the road.
Standby For More
I have decided a recovery point towbar is the next improvement my little off-roader needs! Though I’m not sure about a roof rack, mud tyres, and a lift kit. Maybe something wider than a 145 tyre on the front would be good anyway.
Irene certainly doesn’t need a winch, though; the supermarket isn’t that hard to access.
Still, a bigger battery would be handy. It certainly hasn’t failed, but the range has shrunk to around 75km.
After 15 years of development, battery technology is available now, which means you can pack more than twice the range into the same space.
Roughly speaking, it’s costing me $1.17 per hundred kilometres, so I’d love to get $2.80 into it.
Modesty Is A Virtue
The mind boggles as to how much people spend on four-wheel drives and accessories to trick them up.
With car-crushing “hooning” laws and a lack of off-street venues, young blokes are now lifting their rides instead of lowering them, so they can go bush bashing instead of street racing.
Having seen first-hand where they leave rubbish, cut fences, and dump sump oil straight onto the ground doing an oil change, it does erode your faith in humanity.
Hopefully, the move to electrification will help people realise you can get a long way without all the toys. And with V2L-capable vehicles, there’s no need to take a noisy generator with you either.
Footnotes
- light vehicles are under 4.5 tonnes, please stop calling them “trucks” ↩
About Anthony Bennett
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Haha too funny and too true. Looks like the black dog enjoyed the hill climb action!
ps was this on Kangaroo Island?
The Tojo driver clearly didn’t know what he was doing – you air down to a third or so – so it’s hardly a comparison.
Oh, and highway treads are better than muddies on sand. More load spread, less cutting in. I crossed the Simpson on passenger construction highway patterns.
The bald, negative and unsupported comments at the end of this piece should have been left out if you want to persuade people.
A trick for an Imiev: If you lose traction & one wheel spins: gently put your foot on the brake. This transfers the power to the other wheel & has got me out of rural bogs.
That goes for ANY vehicle with an “open” diff.
However where it falls down these days is that most or even all cars that sense two pedals pressed at the same time, will back off the power. (That’s for safety reasons.)
It may have happened but I may have missed it but the sooner we remove the instant asset write off for Wankpanzers the better.
As much as people diss various vehicle make / model owners, they lose as soon as they do this, as I have seen idjit drivers in ALL makes and models, including EVs.
With the Ranger Australia’s most popular vehicle on the road for years, you are going to see a lot doing stupid things from them purely by statistics.
No I don’t have a Ranger, used to have an older one, and it was a fantastic tourer, saw over 200k km of the interior over many trips.
Hit the nail on the head with limited range or BEVs for off roading, and that is besides the fact with a load (camping gear), and hills / stress, you’d at least halve whatever you get around town.
Sure they plenty of instant power / torque, and are capable enough to do some tracks, especially if they have a decent moderate profile tyre that can be deflated (and reinflated afterwards).
Off roading / touring requires a certain type of vehicle, and BEVs at least are not going to cut it for a very long time.
Anyone wanting to test this, meet you at Mt Dare (if you can get even that far), and we’ll do a nice easy Birdsville run.
That might change in time with battery tech, but probably not for a generation or 3, can’t see chargers going in anywhere off the beaten path for seeing much of this country.
GOVCO is going to try and tax ICE 4wds into unaffordability to force people into EVs, and that’s just wrong.
They are a needed vehicle in Australia for some time to come, if not for some great touring / R&R, which people deserve if they want to see the real interior of the country, then for farmers and country folk who will not see the tech and infrastructure to enable them to function in a realistic way for a long time to come.
Oh, and less aggressive tyres are better in sand, road tyres are actually best, you just need to drop tyre pressures a bit to say 10 or 12 psi and you will get a lot further.
Hi Les,
As a farmer myself, with experience in building renewable power systems in remote areas I would like to point out few things.
Nobody in the revered “remote & rural” interior of Australia likes the price they have to pay for fuel, or the time & expense of hauling it from Singapore. Australia imports 90% of transport fuel.
As soon as they’re available you’ll find savvy farmers will be all over EVs like a rash, because they run on fuel refined by your own roof & there’s no carby to clean crud out of on your mustering motorcycle.
As for the Governement “forcing” people out of 4wds… that’ll be an unarguable public good.
Right now we’re actually subsidising needlessly large heavy “trucks” with poor visibility & terrible overall safety to be used in dense urban centres.
As a community we’ll all be better off with more kei cars and less 4wds, but it’ll need some levelling of the playing field by regulators.
https://thedriven.io/2024/12/11/we-have-been-fooled-into-driving-large-dangerous-vehicles-and-they-are-killing-us/
Anthony, we’ll agree to disagree on a lot of the article and your reply.
Tools that won’t do a job.
Forcing this, forcing that, unarguable.
Subsidies. Right.
More this, less that, how long until they want to take what you need or like away ?
Urban trucks, I can agree that is something that will work now or in the near future.
Try it on the rest of the country.
This is where there is a great argument for a DECENT SIZED battery PHEV, like the BYD Shark. It has up to 100km battery range, but then ICE for the longer drives, which acts mostly as a generator but can also direct drive the front wheels above 70kmh.
The coming Ranger PHEV definitely won’t tick this box- very expensive and a very small battery. (Tell ‘Em they’re dreamin’.)
The average school Mum, or indeed farmer or builder, will be able to do the vast amount of their daily kilometres on battery power, hopefully mostly from their rooftop solar. The other benefit for a farmer or builder is 230v power for tools wherever they stop- with no need to carry a generator.
PHEV is a good option, but you don’t get the BEV low cost to service advantages.
It’s a simple way to manage with one vehicle if doing a lot of longer range driving, and the regen braking on any hybrids / phevs / bevs is good to have
That’s what we plan for suburbs in the near future David, but a lot simpler.
Straight up 2nd have BEV, not worried if range is down to 75km – 100km, that’s fine, it’ll do pretty much anything we need running around town here.
I’ll never have to go near a commercial charger, just keep it ready on the solar.
A little Leaf for $7k would do, can use the sons Tesla charger at home here to do the job of charging.
We also have the EV plan on 8c here for all power 0000-0600, so even with a top off there if ever needed we can manage very cheaply.
The rules will keep changing to eat into everyone’s power advantages thry take up, so plan ahead carefully.
In a decade they’ll understand you Anthony, when the willfully blind climate experiment climbs further up the exponential consequences curve. By then the EV range issue will diminish, both as the 1000 km battery range arrives, and fast charger scarcity diminishes. (It’s the lumps in the weather which increases the death rate, even more than the trend.)
Here, we did admittedly use a 24 yo Prado this week to tow a slicing assembly of hard steel grader blade edges over 10 km of farm tracks to reclaim them from encroaching tussocks and burgan, but only because it’s still hard to find an EV tractor, despite falling battery prices. It is annoying to have to wait for that market segment to catch up. (Skylord gimme patience, and gimme now.)
The 44 kWh of off-grid solar we put into EVs and domestic loads the other day is the best daily consumption so far. And even with three families in the extended dwelling over xmas, with three fridges, two microwaves, plus airconditioning, the battery didn’t fall below 80% overnight, back to 100% before 8 a.m. With fully photon-powered motoring, it’s a heavily carbon-negative rural lifestyle, given 2 sq. km of forest. Off-grid can be better than on-grid, I think. (No power lines to lose in fires or storms, and no black-outs.)
Now it’s up to city folk to do their bit. (E.g. drive EVs, and hire an ICE 4WD once a year to head out back of Burke, if required.) It won’t avert the catastrophe, but might keep it down to +2 degC by 2030, and +3 degC by 2050, judging by 2024’s +1.59 degC.
Remember, folks, it’s accelerating, as feedbacks such as loss of low level cloud cover boost global heating, due to global heating.
Exponential energy transition is ramping up impressively. But. It. Is. Not. Enough. … Yet.
Pub test fail.
Time to talk to real farmers
Hi Ian,
I’m not sure if you read the part of my bio that explains I’ve been a farmer longer than I’ve been an electrcian. I was “driving” the farm ute to feed hay to sheep before I could even see over the steering wheel.
As a “real farmer” I can assure you there are a lot of jobs where we just need a runaround, for which EVs, even a tiny Japanese ones, are perfect.
For instance, a car to put a flashing orange light on because oversized machinery needs a pilot vehicle when traversing the road.
Or something quiet to do twice daily rounds of the sheep during lambing. Some ewes are pretty skittish, especially merinos with firstborns, and they’ll abandon lambs that haven’t found their legs if you scare them.
Maybe other farmers are satisfied to leave the fittest to survive but we tend to pick up the inevitable orphans and bottle feed them because our genetics are more precious than run of the mill fat lambs.
You might not notice the tyre in both of these images so I’ve highlighted it for you. I trust you can see Irene the EV is being charged in the shed, incidentally plugged into the 20amp outlet my Grandpa installed to run a welder.
Anyway I’m not trying to yank anyone’s chain but I’d suggest getting out of the pub and perhaps getting an eye test yourself. The future is staring us all in the face; and it’s electric.
Simply the lighter the vehicle the less sinking into the sand , mud etc.
How are you defining remote and rural? Looking at petrol prices online, the local option is often cheaper than capital cities – transport costs are higher, but land costs and expenses are much lower.
Actually government dictating what people can and cannot drive will not be unarguable public good, it’ll be a dangerous exercise in dictatorship.
How are ‘needlessly large heavy “trucks”‘ being subsidised? EVs are being subsidised, yes, but what’s the argument in relation to 4WDs or American pickups?
Actually the community here would be better off with more 4WDs and zero Kei cars. Okay that might be an exaggeration – there’s already plenty of 4WDs and zero Kei cars, but instagib matchboxes on wheels are only useful for transporting a couple of people. If you need to transport larger numbers, or groceries, or tools e.g. tradies, then you need a proper vehicle.
If those living in capital cities want to give up on private transport or rely on tiny cars, that’s fine. But don’t try to dictate what the rest of Australia has because it won’t work.
Hi George,
Governement already dictates that millions of people must buy cars & fuel for them because outer suburbs are poorly planned & simply not served with decent public transport.
If you’re too old or too young to drive you can’t live in many places without needing a taxi.
“The Federal government is further complicit in encouraging purchase of large SUV’s by enabling tax write-offs for any ‘business use’ even if they are only transporting the driver, and classifying 2-3 tonne passenger utes and wagons as ‘commercial’, making them exempt from luxury car taxes and giving them a 5% -20% price discount over much less polluting EVs.”
https://thedriven.io/2024/12/11/we-have-been-fooled-into-driving-large-dangerous-vehicles-and-they-are-killing-us/
Respectfully that’s largely garbage. Decent public transport is subjective. Likewise a need to buy cars and ‘fuel’ is subjective. You could simply buy a bike and ride, or walk, to a public transport spot. That’s what generations of yesteryear used to do. It’s also what I did with one store in particular whilst overseas as I enjoyed the hour long walk each way from the main road rather than the closer bus stop. From memory I did that at least once a week. True most Australian cities are a long way from the 15 minute city concept\conspiracy theory, but a lot of the issue is purely cultural, environmental, or personal choice.
If you’re too young, old, medically unfit, or otherwise prohibited, you can’t drive, true, but that doesn’t mean you can’t live places. Yes you may need a taxi for special occasions, but that’s far cheaper than owning and running an EV. With supermarkets often offering delivery services, and companies like Amazon delivering, many things can be done without actually leaving one’s home, unless truly in the middle of nowhere. Medical appointments would likely be one of the major barriers, but access to a GP could be a bigger issue than transport! And if you absolutely do need transport, a motorised wheelchair, scooter, ebike, golf buggy etc may suffice.
Sure. Treating private vehicles as commercial is terribly lazy and bad policy. I absolutely won’t dispute that point. But tax write offs for carrying just a driver are legitimate – a plumber will not use a chauffeur! Since cars are paying taxes on fuel, they’re contributing to road upkeep whereas EVs continue to be subsidised.
Hi George,
Have a look at new subdivisions all over Australia and you find they aren’t walkable. My own is included, and it was probably “planned” in the 1970s.
Everyone wants to live on a quiet dead end street, but that means there’s no through paths for pedestrians, in fact there aren’t even footpaths.
There are houses with garage under main roof (full of crap) and cars parked down both sides of the street, leaving barely one lane for pedestrians, kids on bikes, elders on electric wheelchairs.
The upshot is my son has been terrorised by not one but two different impatient, horn blaring, 4 wheel driving boomers on his first bike ride to the local shops with me. He was a bit wobbly but willing to try at first, now I can hardly get him on a bike because he doesn’t want to encounter these people again.
The cultural issue is that we’ve been trained to be a car culture, and everyone else is a second class citizen.
We all subsidise cars, the very fabric of our cities is given over to them, driving them, parking them, fuelling them… and having road rage incidents because people feel invulnerable when they’re ensconced in ABS brakes, airbags and 2+ tonnes of tank.
Great cities are ones where the train, tram or bus comes so often that you forget about the timetable. They’re the places where you might meet the Prime Minister because the chauffeur service is slower and less convenient.
All good points. But the fact remains that with other EV options opening up these large Ute’s are not a good mix in urban areas. Vehicles like the new BYD Shark – marbe in cab chassis form. If the tax breaks for buying and fuelling them were reserved for those in non city areas tradies would immediately move to something more sensible. I do long outback travel for personal enjoyment and just pay for the vehicle that suits. Plenty of others do the same. It’s dirtier around town and if I was asked to contribute for this – fair enough. (I run an EV as a town car)
As for farmers ‘needing’ these – watch what happens when viable utes turn up – particularly with V2L. Rural sheds are perfect solar panel supports and farmers are very quick to reduce costs. Diesel Ute’s will disappear from most properties with a whoosh.
Great points Anthony. 25 years ago I raised safety and economic concerns about the increasing number of large 4wds. I prepared a web page summarising the issues:
https://vdrsyd.com/mp/4wd.html
Lovely comedy piece to say the least
Being very interested in all kinds of vehicles, would have hoped a more scientific and engineering approach would have been taken so the article could be taken seriously rather than for amusement only.
Weight of vehicle, tyre width (helped EV big time, narrow better for sand) and pressures, line taken, speed, skill of driver all come into play. The EV did great the evidence is there and the 4wd stopped. Test the EV stopped in same spot and would it crawl out? Quite possibly and probably very well once it manged to find traction, a true advantage in EVs.
I agree most people buy vehicles with more capability than the driver or than they might ever use it for, but is that morally wrong?
No issue with electrical vehicles nor petrol or oil burners, they all have their places.
Vehicle fitness for purpose is crucial, as couldn’t imagine this little EV carting heaps of farm tools and equipment or be able to tow trailers of heavy equipment around the farm.
Would it be ethically or financially viable to have multiple vehicles to use for every kind of trip? Probably not.
EVs have a place, but as yet the resources and energy consumed in manufacturing them is still significant as for fuel burning cars. Lets face it, they are still made of significant crude oil plastics everywhere and using precious minerals for all the electronics and batteries etc. If everyone was really serious about the “environment”, use public transport or a bicycle or walk, car share or even taxi’s/uber would be more efficient and environmentally sound. Let alone the time to charge vs filling up (unless charging at home of solar – good, charge over night – save time, however costs negligible)
Fact is money speaks and industry only makes what brings in the money, including solar and EVs.
When is someone going to start talking about the product end of life costs?
Now that will be a great read, more informative and less entertaining!
Respect is key
Yenni,
Bankrupt Nissan, and Mitsubishi, are now in the process of being subsumed into Honda, in an attempt to survive the onslaught of EVs. Toyota may survive long enough to transition, by selling rebadged BYDs in 2025, and adopting CATLs generic skateboards in the longer term, putting “Toyota” shells on top. Time will tell whether that is enough to avoid bankruptcy there as well.
Nissan owed only 7B USD, but VW is 22B in the red, and incompetent in the EV field, so probably won’t survive either. Failure of the recent plan to close three factories and sack 35,000 workers can probably not be adequately offset by moving some manufacture to Mexico, as Chinese manufacturers are already moving in – and they *do* have adequate technology.
EV battery replacement can now cost less then an ICE engine replacement. (Ask an insurer if you’re not up to date on that.) And manufacturers are now offering million km *warranties* on the latest batteries off the production lines. The average EV battery will already outlast the vehicle, as drivers report 80% residual capacity after half a million km – just on older batteries.
There can no longer be any doubt that 2035 will be barely recognisable, either on the climate front or new car purchasing. Paying substantially more for an ICE vehicle, then forking out for diminishing fuel supplies, will catch up with even the slow learners.
At $31k, an MG4 was in october already cheaper than a Toyota Corolla, and has zero fuel costs when charged off-grid. Servicing is “Drop in in 2 years for a look-over, come back in 4 years for a coolant change.” Warranty is 7 years, and there are no oil changes. The economy, convenience, and driving experience leave mucky obsolete ICE in the dustbin of discarded history.
Crash testing shows vehicles with a structural battery pack are very significantly safer than ICE vehicles, both in terms of intrusion and fire risk. (Note: Hybrids, with petrol and high voltage energy, are the worst of both worlds.)
Mitsubishi is in trouble? Or you mean they’re considering economies of scale too? Toyota selling rebadged BYDs would simply kill Toyota. There’s a reason Australia and other companies like the brand – it’s reliable, not Chinese crap.
EV insurance remains higher than ICE insurance, and for good reason!
2035 may be vastly different to now, yes, but will that be because of changes in culture or technology? Or will it be changes driven by government dictating consumer choices? Next vehicle will be an ICE not EV, probably not even a hybrid based on mechanic information – too complicated, too expensive.
ICE cars already offer low cost servicing, mechanics will let you know it’s a terrible idea that kills your vehicle.
EVs may burn less, but when they do burn they burn far far worse. So there’s some difference. Hybrids, given tiny batteries, should tend to fall on the ICE side of things.
George,
You’re right that hybrids, at least later in service life, can only be a service nightmare. And petrol + HV electricity unavoidably amplifies risk.
However, the large EV maintenance cost reduction comes not from low cost servicing, but from having very few moving parts, no sliding wear, and no engine oil to change. The MG4 requires no service actions for the first 4 years, when battery coolant is changed.
Global energy transition expenditure was around USD2.5T last year, expect 3-4 trillion this year. The exponentially accelerating effort to crush fossil fuel use ASAP will reach jaw-dropping intensity before it’s done. Solar kills coal in daytime, and lucrative grid-scale batteries kill it 6-10 p.m. now, 6-2 a.m. in a few years, then 24/7 before many folk realise what’s happened. Putting off a new car purchase for a few years might be a good idea, if range is vital, as options are changing, like it or not. (EVs are a no-brainer in town, especially if domestic solar provides *zero* cost fuel. Hire a fossil-burner for back of Burke once a year, if holidays have to be dusty, I figure.)
Japan’s Kodak moment is happening this decade. It is only by buying in Chinese technology that two Japanese car manufacturers might survive to 2035. The Nissan CEO said they had 12 – 14 months to survive, but their urgent absorption into Honda reveals the mad optimism. Mitsubishi might live as a badge on a shell on a CATL skateboard. (I drove a Scorpion for 21 years. It was a little beauty. Bring it back in EV form, I say.)
Even out on a farm, with a 65 km shopping trip, an EV is a great fit.
Townfolk in ICE cars are missing out badly on commute cost savings and a much improved driving experience. (In the MG4, anyway – it’s a ripper drive, at ordinary insurance cost. $465 isn’t too dear, I figure.)
Correction; MG4 warranty is 10years /250,000 kilometers. I bought one as soon as the price dropped, it’s great, and I have been a gearhead all my life.
I understand and respect you have invested heavily into one side of the equation, I am still very open minded and would love to see these electric cars come from renewable resources only and not from any crude oil to make plastics or rare minerals from the ground exploiting kids in 3rd world countries, if these claims were to be true..
The fact is politics and investment in industry that demands big returns are the only thing that truly drive the economy and sadly the environment will continue to be taken for a ride as scare resources making all our technology become harder to fine.
Sadly people are falling for tales on every side and yes current corporations are failing as a result.
Farmers, truckies and those living remote need something reliable and cost effective with endurance. Hope beyond hope that all the EV hype will deliver on the hopes of the believers, however politics and investment always drive it, relying on us bunnies to believe their lies and half truths. It is a sign of our times.
Personally I think if in the city take public transport into the city, don’t drive. Walk when able, shop local, grow your own vegies and fruit where possible, minimise landfill and reuse and compost everything possible. Don’t forget the greatest damage the sun does is to bear down on bare soils and kill all the life within it, mulch, water and conserve energy, nature already knows how to conserve the sun’s energy, plants are nature’s batteries locking up CO2 and releasing when burnt for reuse again and again, now that is sustainable! Food for thought not sponsored by politics or investment cos is doesn’t buy votes or pay dividends!
Yes any small car can pretend to be an 4×4, and on sand the smaller and lighter the better. My first ‘4×4’ was an 2WD Holden Gemini! However, it fell apart! And this is the truth behind this story …your little Irene wouldn’t last a year pretending to be a 4×4. Durability is a big question for SUV EV’s.
Over the next few years it looks like there may be some capable all wheel drive EV’s coming that are not just SUV’s but proper EV 4×4’s. If the Rivian EV (or similar) ever makes it to Australia, with a motor on every wheel, it will blow every diesel 4×4 out of the water (sand dunes) in terms of capability. BUT range remains the killer for any real 4×4 EV travel, until solar skin/paint or some rad new battery, becomes reality.
Hybrid EV’s with fossil fuel generators look promising until the battery runs out and the fuel use is higher than a standard diesel eg (New BYD Ute). AND EV durability (given they’re mostly designed for city roads) in the bush is the other big question yet to be answered. Sadly, that Toyota (if driven properly LOL) would climb that sandy track for decades longer than Irene.
Apart from the aspect of the light BEV kei car being shown to be superior to a landcruiser for travelling over soft sand, and with the
”
Consultancy Strategic Vision surveyed over 250,000 pickup truck owners in the United States. I found the results quite interesting:
75% never use their truck to tow something.
70% never go off-road.
”
As I have previously said, if the Geely RD6 had come to Australia, before the RD6 became extinct, and, had been available in Australia, for a similar price to the LDV eT60 in New Zealand (40,000NZD – about 37,000AUD), the RD6 would have likely displaced the diesel utes in Australia, especially, as a tradie’s vehicle, with the 16kW V2L, including the 32A and 10A power sockets, that could drive an arc welder or a concrete mixer, on site, from the tradie’s vehicle.
But, alas, the Geely RD6 apparently became extinct, without ever having made it to Australia, and, if the model – the 2WD one, had made it to Australia, to be sold in Australia, it could have been both a more feasible shopping basket, and, a tradie’s vehicle,than the diesel fuelled utes.
Instead, we simply are expected by the feral government, with its pretend emissions control regulations, to put up with breathing the diesel fumes from the inferior vehicles that are imposed upon us by the feral government, the diesel vehicles being the reject ones that no other country in the G50, would accept.
The way of the soviet union…
Bret,
The Radar RD6 is being replaced by the the Radar King Kong, with models up to 5.5m long, 86 kWh battery, and 605 km range. See after 7 min into this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81mvgCk2NTY
The overseas price is very low. Let’s hope for a share of that low cost when it reaches our shores. The prices he mentions are USD, I figure, so double and add a bit. But that’s still enough to kill ICE, I figure.
I think that a number of significant problems would exist, for that king kong model.
The first, is that, after two years, the RD6 never made it to Australia, to be available to buy. An RD6 would have been good, and, would have been sufficient, and, probably about the size of a hilux, which is supposed to be the top selling light vehicle in Australia. The RD6 was manufactured with RHD, to cater for Thailand and Australia, and, we were told that it would be coming here. I was waiting for the RD6, but, it never came here. So, I have no confidence in this king kong thing, coming to Australia.
That is one thing. The king kong thing is supposed to be about the size of a Ford F150. Who wants to drive a tank like that? Why not just by a Bedford 5 ton truck? I have driven a Ford F150, in a job that I had. It had a 350 V8 motor, and, was dual fuelled – it ran on LPG and on petrol. But, it was uncomfortably big, for day to day driving. The size of the king kong thing, will put people off, unless they are the tanky wankies. The Subaru brumby was a small ute, and, it was popular, when it was available. The Datsun 1200 ute was popular, when it was available. The king kong thing, is for tanky wankies, and, not for the common people It is like buying a Chevvy Impala – the look impressive, but, not everyone wants one, for day to day driving. the king kong base model thing, may have a price of 13k USD, which would probably be about 25-30k AUD (if it ever gets here, for sale), but, it is simply too big.
Instead of creating things that are not for the common people, and, that may never eventuate as a product for sale, these manufacturers should be concentrating on getting vehicles that suit the common people, and that are made available for sale.
Geely seems to be no more than clickbait, and, waiting for a Geely ute, seems to be like endlessly deferring getting a rooftop PV system (“Well, the prices are sure to reduce, so, we may as well keep waiting, and waiting, and waiting…”)
Tesla has also been better at promising than prompt delivery. RHD is a lower priority for all the manufacturers, evidently. Now the new model has overtaken the old before it reached us here.
I was also disappointed by the long Radar RD6 delays – most especially when my 24 yo Ford ute gasped its last, and I had to buy an MG4 instead. Adding a light trailer does however suffice for serious trips to Bunnings, but 117 mm ground clearance is not enough for a trip into the forest for firewood.
Good things come to those who can wait; the rest of us must make do. Hang off a bit more, and you’ll win better range as well. (Instant gratification is all very well, but the long-life variety is more sustaining.)
I have travelled Australia extensively on bitumen and off road towing caravan and off road camper. EVs can not do this and probably never will in my life time. Not many chargers across the the gunbarrel the canning I believe a couple now on the gibb river road . While people need to tow caravans and large trailers over long unsealed roads diesel will never be replaced by EVs so don’t be conned by the likes of Bowen and his mob
Hi Tony,
Turns out caravans are already being towed around Australia, doing a “big lap” and everything.
Better yet, with solar on the roof they can run air conditioning or serve as a self filling jerry can.
Check out the links for more & remember there’s millions more power outlets in Australia than there are petrol outlets.
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089625813396
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DAB5DLbdHdQ
https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-news/family-towing-a-caravan-across-australia-in-an-ev-to-prove-scomo-and-doubters-wrong
The EV did well, but what weight is in the back of the Cruiser and note they did not let air out of the tyres which is how you negotiate sand. You also carry a 12v air pump when off road to pump em up again.
Doug,
I’ve taken to carrying the 12v air pump in the back of the EV, just on the 65 km highway trip to go shopping, after a nail-induced tire leak. That leaves the goopy-stuff emergency kit for emergencies, I figure. And I must grant that I had to walk from the tire repairer to the shops, as it was not possible to drop off the tire and come back later. (I perhaps should consider keeping a spare in the garage, at least.)
Anthony’s iMiev off-roading is incongruous enough to make us stop to think about the climatically crazy corollary – massive low mileage ICE monsters prowling suburban streets, belching long term climate consequences on every kindergarten pickup.
We’ll end 2025 on 1.7 degC global temp rise, up from +1.59 deg last year. It’s the excursions which do the damage, though, +12 to +16 degC over seasonal average in late December, both here and in parts of the northern hemisphere. Mind you, the crazy floods in Spain did clean up an awful lot of ICE cars, dumping them in big piles.
The last several COP-outs were held in fossil-fuel capitals, flaunting the subversion of the climate leadership process. As we career willfully toward +2 degC by 2030, and +3 degC by 2050, it seems that it is primarily the immediate economic advantages of solar and batteries which drive the exponential energy transition. We fly into a future of fires, floods, hurricanes, and heatwaves with a courageous abandon that is breathtaking. May our children forgive us.
Happy New Year!
I’ve seen first hand how surprisingly capable these little cars can be, in sand such as this and on a steep, rocky, loose gravel hill.
Totally agree about the size and overkill of modern fourbies too.
Love the footage!
Small, lightweight vehicle floats over soft sandy surface .. YEP that could be anything that fits the category … Large heavyweight vehicle with street tyre bogs in same soft sand.. YES.. nothing to brag about but take your little EV into real 4WD territory and see the results.. EV’s outside of the city here in Australia are not a winner but in Europe where the 600ish km range easily gets you to your destination non stop they are in their element.. Hybrid is still the 1/2way answer to traveling long distances here in OZ if you trying to be environmentally conscious … As for the large 4WD, Ute, SUV etc they are seen a some sort of safety, as bigger is perceived as better/safer or a status symbol.. all that Australian drivers are doing is following the American trend of large fuel guzzling vehicles – PITT STRRET COWBOY or as the Victorians call them TOORAK TRACTORS 😂
ICE 4WD can carry a jerry can of diesel or petrol , up till now I’ve never heard of a jerry can of electricity . All off road 4WD’s also carry spare tyres , EV don’t carry spare tyres { which is very irresponsible , expecting some one else to to fix your trouble if your tyre is shredded }. , No one has ever said EV cannot go on dirt/sand , its the impracticality of recharging or not having a spare tyre.
The spare tyre thing is a real issue but im sad to report its not an EV thing but most modern cars thing after some recent car shopping, my family has brought 3 new cars in the last 2 years and only one has a spare tyre.
I agree it’s stupid as I have already suffered the pain of blowing a tyre at night on a pothole and needing a tow truck.
The reason EVs don’t carry spare tyres now is the reason many cars no longer have spares. Weight and space. My EV6 has a bokt to rival my old Commodore but due to the massive tyres and wheels one takes up most of the usable space in the back.
As for range newer batteries are increasing range at a rapid pace already and I would love to see someone look at solar as a range extender/charge at remote destination option.
Solar gear is dirt cheap now and a very decent sized array could fit in the back of an EV 4×4 to be spread out on location with the right inverter to charge the vehicle.
I’m waiting impatiently for a proper EV 4×4 to hit the country but current options suck.
I miss my old Prado. I just don’t miss the fuel bill. I’m also keenly aware I almost never need its 1000km unrefueled range and have done maybe half a dozen trips where I have exceeded that range. EVs should have similar range in the near future.
Hi Adam,
This caravan serves as a self filling jerry can for the car towing it.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DAB5DLbdHdQ
Should we expect 4wd owners to drill and refine their own fuel?
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089625813396
A belated random thought. If the off road performance of an i-MiEV (Weight: 1,080 kg | Range: 100-160 Km (US\Jap version) | Top Speed: 130 kph) is seen as making it superior to the Toyota Landcruiser 300 (Weight: ~2,600 Kg | Range: 970-1,450 Km (Urban v Extra Urban) | Top Speed: ~210 km) then wouldn’t a lighter, more long ranged, and\or faster vehicle be even superior to the i-MiEV?
By that logic wouldn’t a beach buggy be a superior option for basic transport? The basic form for that is, apparently, a Volkswagen Beetle or equivalent chassis, with fibreglass bodies now popular in certain quarters. The ‘sandrail’ is more a custom option with roll cage and anything from a 1 seater with a tiny engine to 8+ cylinders and up to 4 seats, closer to a modern sedan car. Perhaps at the top end are military options like light strike vehicles – (Weight 960 Kg | Range: 500 Km | Top Speed: 130 kph on road, 110 kph off-road). Note you probably won’t need TOW missiles and machine guns on Australia roads however! : – D
Of course none of these offer AC, an enclosed cabin, or modern safety features like airbags, but neither do motorbikes. Might a far lighter ICEV be a better option given energy density versus EVs?
Hi George,
I think you’re beginning to grasp the point of the whole article… 2.6tonnes of juggernaut isn’t the best thing for delivering kids to school. Bicycles are really but that’s another story.
Lighter vehicles are indeed better and though the best thing may be to maintain, reuse and convert the existing stock of vehicles, the underlying message is that ICE is dead.
https://theicct.org/publication/a-global-comparison-of-the-life-cycle-greenhouse-gas-emissions-of-combustion-engine-and-electric-passenger-cars/
Great article. Very humorous too. And your considered replies to readers who are concerned about the government imposing martial law and forcing us all into buying EV’s excises great restraint. The most damning aspect of these ugly urban tanks is that they aren’t being used for the purpose intended. Those stats about usage is reflective of our own observed experience. Why are people (men) buying these to drive on urban asphalt? Ridiculous. And all those tradies can’t even carry a decent load because of hopeless configuration of the pathetic tray …..while the dual cab seats gather dust for years. My pet hate is the oversized dual cab ute with tow bar that can’t be parked correctly in any car park whether on the street or in a multi level. Bad parking is inherent in these design failures of male ego machines. ( the insurance claims must be racking up for damage they cause for illegal parking ) . So thank you for your clarity and please, can the urban buyers of these junk play school trucks wake up to the seriously bad choice you have made.
Cheers David,
What beats the living daylights out of me is why these VW Transporters aren’t a thing. It’s 4wd, coil spring comfort and a full length 2.4mt tray.
When I went looking for an electric trailer brake control, the ute accessory dealer (installer of towbar/bullbar/roof rack/tool box) didn’t even know they existed.
VW rate this to tow 2.5 tonnes but nobody seems to realise the 3.5 tonne rating offered on all these other “utes” is driven by the marketing department. The engineers put so many caveats into the fine print, you end up with zero payload in the 2.5 tonne tow car, because they really can’t cope with it.
The ones that really make me laugh are those dressed up with a “sports bar” and hard lid/shutter arrangement. You can’t put a couch in one but your groceries will slide around, getting damp or full of dust because the tailgate doesn’t seal. A Falcon wagon is literally a more useful vehicle, at least you can sleep inside it.
Hi Anthony,
I was teaching folks how to drive in deep sand, west of Marchagee WA, in 1963 in an old A model Ford… floated over the top of 30cm (foot) deep of churned up tracks (by Leyland Octopus mainly).
Some of the locals made 4WD beetles do some amazing farm chores.
If you can’t remember them just get two beetles front-to-back, pull the front wheels off the back one, add a tow hitch and hook it onto the front one, run a few cables and away you go.
Seems to me you could do the same with those i-MiEV and make it a real work horse on the farm, then when you want to go to town just unplug and unhook the tail and away you go again all road legal.
If my 550kk 80 Series LPG/ULP gives up the ghost I might be tempted to do that myself – inertia is significant after 80+ laps of the sun.