Your trusty local council truck fleet is set to get a modern, green makeover with a new electric light truck set to land in Australia soon, and its maker says there is plenty of pent-up demand.
While a number of truck-makers have been talking up their upcoming hybrid and electric offerings, Isuzu Australia Limited (IAL) – not affiliated with Isuzu Ute Australia that sells the D-Max and MU-X – held the local debut of its first all-electric offering at the recent Brisbane Truck Show.
Don’t expect to see the new-generation N Series EV on dealer forecourts just yet – it won’t hit Australian shores until late 2024 or early 2025.
The all-electric light truck is based on the new-generation N Series that was revealed in March. The internal combustion engine version will land Down Under in 2024.
Isuzu will commence targeted trials in late 2023 with selected local councils ahead of a wider roll out about a year later.
IAL’s Chief of Strategy, Grant Cooper, told CarsGuide there is significant pent-up demand from certain sectors for light trucks like the N Series EV, especially from companies with a focus on sustainability.
“Basically, we have a lot of customers in the waiting room at the moment. And those customers consist of your big corporate fleets, and your local and federal councils. And all those customers and companies have the wherewithal and the budgets to effectively wave that green flag,” he said.
“They’re following their ESG (environmental, social and governance) strategies that they’re pushing. And they’ve got the will and the budget to be able to go and do this.”
Mr Cooper added that because the Federal Government’s EV strategy offers very little for commercial vehicles, it could be a while before you see smaller businesses like tradies opting for an N Series EV.
“Unfortunately, as you’re very well aware, there’s no incentives, mandates or anything related to commercial vehicles, particularly as part of the National Electrical Vehicle Strategy that was introduced a couple of weeks ago, and industry was quite disappointed. There was nothing in there for commercial vehicles at this point in time.
“So as we move into the pilot stage, we’ve got some customers that have been lining up for years now. And because we are market leaders, they’ve been willing to wait. And we see this product, it’s the right product at the right time. It’s not going to be in that sort of commercial range that is suitable for your retail customer or your tradie, at least initially, but as we see the economies of scale, with further volume coming into the market, that will impact that.”
Don’t expect to see the new-generation N Series EV on dealer forecourts just yet – it won’t hit Australian shores until late 2024 or early 2025.IAL Director and Chief Operating Officer, Andrew Harbison, said it made the most sense to selectively target certain businesses and organisations like councils.
“We know that councils operate in a very limited range. The duty cycle is not terribly high. Or you’ve got the back-to-base rate type operations where they’re operating in a fairly limited area. So they’re the ones that the product is going to work well for. It’s going to deliver a commercial return. The drivers are not going to sit there and panic every time that they get near empty on the battery gauge, so it’ll be the right truck for the right customers at the right time.”
The N Series EV uses 20kWh battery modules and it can be configured with up to five individual battery packs. In Australia, it’s likely to be offered with three to five battery packs, ensuring a capacity of 60 to 100kWh.
Isuzu says it is targeting a GVM range of 4500 to 7500kg, and the estimated range – depending on the application – will be about 150 to 200km.
While that doesn’t sound like much of an electric driving range when you consider some figures for the latest crop of electric passenger cars and SUVs, Isuzu Trucks says it is “perfect for back-to-base operations”.
Power comes from a 370Nm electric motor with ‘Eco’ and ‘Boost’ modes, and the electric truck will feature 12-stage regenerative braking.
Charging is possible via AC single phase, AC three-phase and DC rapid charging, and it comes with a CCS2 plug for fast charging.
Isuzu won’t be alone in Australia’s light truck segment, with Iveco also exhibiting its eDaily at the Brisbane Truck Show. The eDaily is based on the internal combustion version but according to Iveco has a driving range of about 300km.
Keyword: Isuzu goes electric! Not the D-Max or MU-X, but the 2024 Isuzu N Series light truck and it could be doing council duty near you soon!