KGM Musso EV review. The fully electric, AWD ute has arrived in Australia

2019 seems an age ago now. That was when the Australian Culture Wars expanded to include electric cars, and anti-EV disinformation was easy to spread when the general public knew little to nothing about them.

Who can forget Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash’s infamous words that new EV sales level objectives and legislatively mandated fuel emissions targets would ‘steal the tradies ute’.

Or, worse still, then Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s straight-out lies that such government directions would strip people of 4WDs and ‘end the long weekend’ as 4WD EVs didn’t exist … and even if one day they did, would never be capable of towing.

After driving for the past few weeks in the KGM Musso EV: a fully-electric dual-cab ute, I can inform you that the former PM is very wrong, as we knew then.

For those who have not heard of KGM (which is probably most), it is the new name for long established South Korean brand SsangYong Motor. Whilst SsangYong vehicles have been sold here since the mid-1990s, up until 2018 the brand had a number of different importers … who generally had different ideas as to where to place the brand in terms of market and pricing.

That changed in 2019 when SsangYong became a fully factory-owned and backed brand targeted at the mainstream market. Since then, KG Group (a large Korean industrial company) became the majority shareholder in SsangYong and in late 2024 rebranded SsangYong as KGM.

What is the Musso EV?

The Musso name applies to KGM’s diesel as well as electric dual-cab ute offerings, although the EV shares the name only and is, both inside and out, quite different to the ICE version. In fact, the Musso EV is built on the same platform as the fully electric KGM Torres medium SUV.

Whilst the Musso isn’t Australia’s first all-electric ute (the LDV eT60 holds that title), the Musso EV is Australia’s first all-wheel drive (AWD) version as it is offered in both 2WD (front wheels driven) and AWD. (The eT60 was rear-wheel drive only).

Its payload is slightly less than the eT60 (905kg for the Musso 2WD, 1000 kg for the eT60), but its tow rating is much higher. (1800 kg braked for the Musso EV, versus 1000 kg for the eT60).

Interior:

The interior of the Musso EV is certainly a step-change from the ute of old: the Musso EV sports carpeted floors, leather look seat coverings (leather and suede in the AWD) and a leather covered steering wheel with both reach and height adjustment.

Seating includes electric adjustment for both of the front, plus a manual fore/aft adjustment of the rear seats that allows a form of reclining seat for rear passengers. Mind-you, this did require sliding the rear seat base forward, so longer legged rear seat passengers would be limited to more upright positions.

By the way, all that dark grey and black (including the roof lining) does give the interior a slightly cave-like feel – although this is tempered somewhat by good visibility with quite large glass areas all-round.

On the other hand, some things remain more work-ute basic – probably showing that some compromises had to be made to bring it in at a mainstream price. The radio is AM/FM (no digital), with a simple 6-speaker system and navigation is not built-into the Australian version.

However, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are both available using a wired connection, allowing navigation via Google maps. Not owning an iPhone I couldn’t test the CarPlay system, but I can report that Android Auto worked seamlessly … and in fact was the better for phone use: connecting the phone using only Bluetooth resulted in very limited access to the phone’s address book.

The Tub:

Unibody dual-cab utes suffer from the limited load area the enlarged passenger cab causes – which is exacerbated by the inability to swap the tub for a tray because the tub is part of the vehicle structure (unlike body-on-frame designs like the Fort Ranger or even the LDV eT60).

For those whose needs are met by the tub size though, you get a full tub liner covering both the interior, top and tailgate, a 150kg rated tailgate, eight tie down hooks and even a switchable tub light.

From the driver’s seat:

The dash layout is modern looking using two flat displays – one directly in front of the driver and a second touch-screen angled slightly towards the driver which, in appearance, flow neatly together.

The driver’s display had the major information needed (speed, remaining range) always available, of good size and easy to read without having to hunt for them. The centre section of the driver’s display is reserved for a rotating set of options (trip data, radio selection, tyre pressures etc) which are swapped using a single push of a steering located button.

Whilst the touch screen is to me in the ‘Goldilocks zone’ (not too bit, nor too small), my main quibbles with it were a slow start-up (often still loading as I began driving) as well as being slow to respond to touch commands for some vehicle functions. It was however a lot quicker to respond when using Android Auto, as well as via the steering wheel buttons.

Between the reverse camera, guidelines, 360-degree view function and fore and aft proximity sensors, the Musso EV is relatively easy to park for its size – plus the visibility from the side and rear windows is surprisingly good.

In addition to the touchscreen, many vehicle functions can be performed using steering wheel button controls. These make it was easy to change them without taking your eyes off the road.

Also included is a programmable ‘favourites’ button for choosing a preferred touch-screen menu. (I found it worked best to bring up the ventilation menu).

Another useful inclusion are steering wheel mounted paddles for up- and down-shifting the regenerative braking level. As a long-time EV driver, I find paddle shifters a valuable tool for easily changing the level without looking away from the road.

The only downside to this function in the Musso EV was it reset to the lowest level every time you restarted the car, unlike many other EVs where you can choose the default setting.

Whilst on the driving feel – KGM have set the accelerator up to almost feel like you are driving a diesel ute. By this I mean there is a slight lag between pushing the accelerator and the car starting to accelerate.

Probably designed to make first-time movers from ICE to electric powered utes feel more comfortable – as a long time EV driver, I found it to be quite annoying to not have the instant response that an electric drivetrain normally offers.

ADAS:

The Musso EV comes with the usual full suite of ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems). As frequently mentioned in my drive reports though, when it comes to ADAS the second ‘A’ in ADAS seems to be variously interpreted by manufacturers as one of ‘Advice’, Assistance’, ‘Annoyance’ or in a couple of cases, ‘Aggravation’. The Musso thankfully is in the only occasionally annoying ‘Assist’ category. It does emit the odd unnecessary ‘bing and bong’, however they are neither intrusive, nor ridiculously nervous. They are also easy to differentiate by tone regarding what they’re alerting the driver of. Whilst the Musso’s steering assist function is a tad maddening on Australian country roads (where moving within a lane to avoid potholes and dead kangaroos are a way of life, and being steered back towards them ‘unhelpful’) – the nudges are both gentle, and simple to turn off with the press of an easily accessed steering wheel located button.

Charging and range:

The charge port is located on the front left-hand guard, meaning it is well placed for using kerbside chargers. I note this as some brands (often ones built in left-hand drive countries) place it on the right-hand side.

This means for right-hand side charge ports, you either have to park facing the wrong way around to place the charge socket next to a kerbside charger (which is illegal in most Australian jurisdictions), or risk having the charge plug wiped-out by passing vehicle/bicycle traffic.

AC charging is 7kW single phase and 10.5kW three phase. DC charging is up to 300kW. Approximate charging times for the Musso EV are given in the table below:

Source: https://www.aeva.asn.au/files/4561/

When it comes to range, the Musso EV comfortably beats the much more expensive LDV eT60.

The Musso EV in 2WD form has a WLTP rated range of 420km versus the eT60’s 330km. In my two-week stint with the 2WD and AWD versions, I found those numbers to be quite achievable – provided you drive in a normal fashion. Harder driving of such a weighty vehicle will naturally knock the range estimate about – as it would if you drove an ICE vehicle that way.

Summing up:

As a potential work/adventure car that is easy to live with in day-to-day driving, the Musso EV ticks a lot of boxes, especially for the current drive-away prices of $60,000 for the 2WD and $64,000 for the AWD.

Mind-you, with its plush feeling cabin and unibody construction preventing the fitting of a tray, it does feel targeted more at the private buyer than the tradie – although I suspect there will be a fair number of the latter doing some serious number crunching, given its price and running cost benefits could start to seriously tip the total cost of ownership in favour of going full-BEV.

On the other hand – large, dual-cab utes are something that people should only shortlist if they have a genuine use-case for one. A significant part of my two-week stint with the Musso EVs was driving around middle to inner city Melbourne, which strongly reinforced to me this is not its natural habitat!

Unless you regularly carry a load and rear passengers as well as need to tow nearly two tonnes, look elsewhere. Despite its 360-degree cameras and all-round parking sensors, it doesn’t fit well into suburban car park spaces or easily navigate narrow side roads.

If its main duties were to be doing the school run and picking up the shopping, this isn’t the car for you. However, if you regularly need something with its load, passenger and tow capacities – I would definitely seriously consider it for your BEV ute shortlist.

That shortlist by the way (and rather sadly) currently consists of either the 2WD or AWD Musso EV, given the only other full-electric ute is not only much more expensive, it has noticeably lower tow capacity and driving range.

With the forthcoming launches this year of (amongst others) the LDV eTerron 9 and Toyota Hilux BEV utes, it will be interesting to see what sort of competition they will offer to the Musso EV.

Mind-you, given the details already released about the Hilux BEV re price and range – even ‘Barry’ might consider swapping brands … and Morrison and Cash should definitely have a look.

Test cars: Musso EV 2WD in Amazonia Green and AWD in Blazing Gold.

Specifications: (Source: https://www.aeva.asn.au/info/ )

Seating capacity: 5

Dimensions and weights:

Battery:

• 80.6 kWh (LFP)

Charging:

• 1 phase AC: 7 kW (maximum)
• 3 phase AC: 10.5 kW (maximum)
• DC: 300 kW (maximum)

Charge port location:

• Front-left (in front of passenger door)

Vehicle to Load connection (position and power):

• The Musso EV is V2X capable to 3500W, via an adaptor plugged into the charge port.

Energy consumption: (WLTP):

• 2WD: 23 kW/100km
• AWD: 26 kWh/100km

Drive configuration:

• Front wheel drive (2WD) or all-wheel drive (AWD)

Towing: unbraked/braked

• 750kg/1,800kg

Performance: