Despite some electric farm vehicles landing in Australia next month the NSW Farmers said it will be some time yet before primary producers make the switch.
Next month, Chinese manufacturer LDV will launch the first fully-electric ute in Australian showrooms. Currently diesel powered utes makeup a quarter of all vehicle sales in Australia. But the NSW Farmers aren’t predicting a massive uptake to start. NSW Farmers Energy Transition Workforce chair Reg Kidd said it will be a long time before primary producers make the switch from diesel. “There’s a lot of promise in these new electric vehicles, but farmers need reliability and endurance when it comes to their trusty ute,” Mr Kidd said. “You need something that can get up and go all day, not just around the farm but into town as well, and sadly these batteries just don’t have the range yet.”
The price point of LDV’s much-anticipated EV ute is yet to be confirmed. But some are speculating the local price tag will be similar to New Zealand’s, which goes for around $70,000 AUD. While the LDV eT60 promises a 330km range, Mr Kidd said recent tests of electric utes in the United States revealed a full load or towing a trailer drastically reduced that range. “One of these big American ‘trucks’ had its range halved when it was towing a trailer, and for farmers who load off the back of their ute, that’s a bit of a worry,” he said. “The other big concern we have, particularly out west, is that charging stations are few and far between, so it might be okay on your property, but can you get home from town?”.