Toyota will build an electric HiLux – and it won’t just be a concept.
Reuters reports comments from Pras Ganesh, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Asia, confirming the car giant intends to produce a consumer-ready version of the HiLux Revo BEV in Thailand by the end of 2025.
Final production numbers, specifications, and pricing haven’t been locked in. Plans as to where it will be sold beyond Thailand also haven’t been confirmed, as Toyota finalises its development process and tries to balance battery size with range.
“The more range I have to put on it, the more battery I have to put on it, which means the weight of the vehicle also becomes significantly heavier, which means the loading can be much less,” Mr Ganesh told Reuters.
“‘Is it going to meet the customer’s usage needs?’ is always our biggest issue. We are always trying to understand what they do,” he said.
The first hints about what to expect from the production model came in the form of the Revo BEV concept, which was recently in Australia for “internal review“.
The concept was revealed in December 2022 in Thailand, but Toyota offered no details about the size of its battery pack nor targeted range, let alone key details for ute owners such as payload and towing capacity.
Its electric HiLux was shown off alongside a modular, low-cost electric ute called IMV 0.
Even hybrid power has remained off limits for the HiLux until recently; the current model gained a 48V mild-hybrid system on certain high-spec variants this year.
Mining companies are big ute buyers, and have recently been turning to aftermarket suppliers such as ROEV and MEVCO who sell HiLuxes or LC79 pickups that have been converted to electric power.
“There is huge demand for light commercial EVs in Australia, particularly in the fleet market where businesses are racing to decarbonise,” said ROEV co-founder Mr Wasmer.
“Electric conversions provide an additional option to accelerate this transition and we’ve been working very closely with fleets to ensure the vehicles out-perform expectations,” he said.
MORE: Everything Toyota HiLux
