Kollé Converts Renault Kangoo ZE Into First EV Pickup Truck
The first electric pickup truck to be released anywhere in the world will soon be hitting the market, according to recent reports. Not the American market, though, unfortunately.
The electric (EV) pickup truck in question will actually be a modified Renault Kangoo ZE electric van — as altered by the French company Kollé. While the truck won’t look like one of the large gas-guzzling trucks that we seem to see everywhere in the US nowadays, the model will clearly function as a truck — and probably be pretty appropriate to the European market, considering how cramped some of the city roads there are.
While details on top speed haven’t yet been released, presumably it won’t be much different from that of the Kangoo ZE (~80 mph). The other specs seem to be pretty much in line with Renault’s original offering as well: ~105 mile range per single charge; a payload capacity of ~1400 lbs; a power train that is composed of a 44-kilowatt (59-horsepower) electric motor with 167 pound-feet of torque, plus a 22-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack.
As always with specs determined on the European testing cycle, you’ll want to take the 106 miles per single charge claim with a grain of salt. Regardless, though, the pickup truck looks likely to have the range to meet the needs of most small businesses or construction/maintenance workers — which is presumably what the target market is (or something similar).
Kollé lists the starting price for the converted electric pickup truck as €14,500 ($16,478 at current exchange rates, which have been volatile as of late).
Those interested can find out more here.
Hopefully someone will finally get around to releasing an electric truck in the US… preferably at some point in the near future. The wait’s been long enough.
Maybe a company could make similar modifications to the Nissan e-NV200.
Image Credit: Kollé
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