Source: Geely
Back in 2022, The Driven reported the first Geely electric ute rolling off the production line in a big step for the affordable fully electric pickup truck market.
Now, almost three years later, this revolutionary ute with up to 3 tonnes of towing capacity has launched across the ditch in New Zealand, with a starting price of equivalent to $A63,300.
According to a report from AutocarNZ, Geely will be relabelling the original RD6 model as Riddara RD6 Pro in the New Zealand market and will be brought into the market by NordEast Distributors.
Along with the 3-tonne towing capacity, the RD6 also has a 1,030 kg payload and delivers up to 360 km of WLTP range, thanks to a 73 kWh battery.
This ute also has V2L capabilities with a 6 kW discharge rate with charging points available in the frunk, cabin, on the side of the ute and in the ute’s bed itself.
The towing capacity and payload figures exceed those of the very popular BYD Shark 6 PHEV ute, which has taken both the Australian and New Zealand markets by storm this year.
On the powertrain front, the Riddara will be delivered to the NZ market with 315 kW, enabling a 0-100 km/h sprint in just 4.5 seconds.
On the inside, the new Riddara RD6 uses a large centre screen along with an instrument cluster screen behind the steering wheel.
Underneath the centre screen are the air conditioning vents, which are pretty typical of most vehicles in the market.
This ute comes with 7 selectable customised driving modes which include Economy, Comfort, Sport, Off-road, Wading, Sand and Mud.
The first RD6 rolled off the production lines in September 2022 with a starting price of under $A40,000. Since then, the brand has launched this vehicle in multiple markets.
In July 2024, Geely Group, the owner of Volvo cars, Polestar and Geely brands, shared the news of the RD6’s launch in right-hand-drive markets, starting with Thailand.
In recent months, it’s expanded into markets such as Singapore, where the RD6 is offered in both 2WD and AWD powertrain configurations.
This is an exciting announcement for electric work vehicle buyers in New Zealand, but at this stage it’s unclear whether this electric ute would be offered in Australia. Expressions of interest are now open in New Zealand for interested buyers.
We will keep a close eye on it, given Australia’s affinity with utes and many fleets across the country awaiting the launch of compelling zero-emission vehicles in this very popular segment.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.
The proposed Road User Tax is a political dog-whistle that will have the fossil fuel…
A fleet of high-tech solar cars has headed off under the Top End sun on…
Xpeng's new G6 with 10-80% fast-charging in 12 minutes inches closer to Australia after launching…
Tesla bundles free-supercharging, premium connectivity for life and more to its most expensive EV offering.
Young solar-tech teams from around the world to race across the outback in a test…
We shouldn’t expect electrified private jets to dominate the skies anytime soon. So, what can…
View Comments
Come on Aussie. It's a ute. Sure the range is modest but most utes are used to cross Sydney, not the Simpson. Also in its favour it doesn't have a grill the size of the gates of hell. Geely would be nuts not to bring it here
A head to head comparison with top selling hybrid and ICE utes would be interesting, both for capability and running costs.
Just back from Singapore and we didn't see a single ute. Tradies were either using small vans or small trucks that could actually carry a load. Much more sensible
It's quite instructive just observing which rhd evs go into what markets.
Clearly, singapore and nz while being almost polar opposites regarding population densities are identified as having enough stupid rich people to support the foray. (Sydney is rightly famous for its dense population.)
The only thing the owners of toorak tractors carry is their smugness.
Kiwis have so many more EV models that aren't available to us like the Skoda Enyaq and other VW group EVs - and they have a much smaller population with an even more under-developed public charging system that consist of mostly 50kW chargers.
Low volumes have been blamed for a lot of models not appearing in Australia, but surely NZ would be even lower volume but yet they get a much better selection.
Is it because of the red tape around ADR compliance? From what I hear NZ accepts vehicles if they are compliant with European standards, whereas Australia is often re-testing what's already been certified in Europe.
And finally, a proper Ute that is based on a car chassis, not one of the many Pickup Trucks pretending to be "Utes"
Australia seems to have its own (slow and expensive) compliance regime for a lot of imports for no obviously good reason. In parallel with this they have zero requirements in some areas. The imports of unsafe battery scooters is a case in point.
If I didn't already own a Geely, I would buy this instead.
I’m hoping they are waiting to announce a bigger battery for the Australian launch. The sooner we can eradicate the arguments around aspirational crossings of the Simpson the better.
Yes, a bit more range and perhaps a bit less acceleration power.