Federal climate and energy minister Chris Bowen has test driven an electric ute, not only proving their existence but declaring they are “hugely popular.”
“Remember when Sussan Ley there’s no such thing as an electric ute? ” he said in a note on Twitter, referring to the surprising but not unpredictable moment in August when shadow Liberal minister for the women, industry and small business Sussan Ley claimed there are no electric utes.
“Today I checked out the EFord150, hugely popular in America,” he said.
The Labor minister also posted the photo of himself with the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning on Facebook, adding it “
Remember when Sussan Ley there’s no such thing as an electric ute?
Today I checked out the EFord150, hugely popular in America
🛻 range of around 500km
🛻 can tow boats & caravans & goes like you wouldn’t believe
❌Not currently available in 🇦🇺 due to poor policies pic.twitter.com/biX0dy9fh8
— Chris Bowen (@Bowenchris) September 20, 2022
Perhaps Ley meant that electric utes don’t exist in Australia. This is true, but mainly because of a decade of LNP leadership that shunned electric vehicles.
Infamously, Michaelia Cash said in the lead up to the 2019 federal election that she would “save the tradies’ utes.”
Michaelia Cash to save the utes. Johnny's car today wont be the one he drives tomorrow and claims 50% of the apprentices standing behind her will be driving an electric vehicle under Bill Shorten. #ausvotes #qldpol pic.twitter.com/Lzvd26vBGh
— David Marler (@Qldaah) April 9, 2019
There are in fact several utes already being delivered to customers in the US.
The Ford F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T are just two examples, and as the payload specifications below show, they have more than enough power and torque to tow your boat and caravan.
| Model | Motors (location) | Power Output (kW) | Maximum Torque (Nm) | Payload (kg) | Tow Rating (tonnes) |
| Ford F-150 Lightning | Dual (axles) | 420 | 1050 | 907 | 4.536 |
| Rivian R1T | Quad (wheels) | 562 | 1120 | 800 | 5 |
Of course, had Ley been reading The Driven she would know that there has been at least one electric ute in Australia. In 2021, EV startup Rivian brought its R1T electric ute along with its R1S SUV for testing.
Mucho excitement! First @Rivian #electric R1T ute and R1S SUV arrive in Australia https://t.co/gBPIEBz7le
— 🚗⚡Bridie Schmidt (@BridieEV) August 27, 2021
The problem, as Bowen points out, is that there are still no electric utes here for sale because carmakers have been given no certainty from the previous government that the transition wild be supported.
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Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.