What's the difference?
Electrified utes are growing in popularity in Australia and carmakers have been paying attention.
While the BYD Shark 6 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) ute is by far the best-selling as it stands, there hasn’t really been any electric ute to go up against the poorly received LDV eT60, until now.
South Korea’s KGM (formerly known as SsangYong) has just launched the Musso EV, which is a purely electric dual-cab ute. It’s unrelated to the existing, turbo-diesel Musso and is more closely related to the current car-based Actyon and Torres SUVs.
Read along to see how this ute stacks up against its growing set of competitors.
Here in 2021, it finally seems like Australia is ready to adopt electric cars, with interest on the rise and many, many new models of various shapes and sizes on the horizon.
Nissan, though, has been quietly chipping away at the EV market with its Leaf, which first launched in Australia way back in 2012 and was then refreshed with a new-gen model in mid-2019.
But even the latest Leaf is beginning to look a little dated compared to the likes of the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5, so what is Nissan to do?
Introduce the new Leaf e+ of course, which features a larger battery for increased driving range, as well as a more potent electric motor for peppier performance.
But is the Nissan Leaf e+ the electric car to buy?
Despite having the Musso name, this electric ute is a completely different beast which is much more lifestyle-oriented than the older and unrelated turbo-diesel Musso workhorse.
There really isn’t much competition out there right now in the electric ute space but this makes a compelling case, especially for those looking in the fleet space. It has an appealing price, adequate range, SUV-like comfort and decent payload capacity.
If you’ve never driven an electric car before, the Nissan Leaf e+ is the perfect starting point.
It looks and feels for the most part like a conventional car, and it doesn’t throw any of its tech in your face.
It might sound like a criticism, but the Leaf e+ is easy-to-use and unintimidating, which is refreshing in a world dominated by TikToks, smart watches and cryptocurrency.
With a boosted driving range and a bit better performance, the Nissan Leaf e+ certainly puts a strong case forward as your next – or first – EV.