Tiny EV Beats Legendary Landcruiser in Off-Road Challenge

The petrol proponents and diesel diehards reckon you can’t take EVs off-road. SolarQuotes has news for them.

With a full battery and all expenses spared, I loaded up and took the cheapest EV in Australia to our secret off-road test facility. The results couldn’t have been clearer.

It’s been a long time since I updated the chronicles of super-budget EV motoring, but with new and exciting upcoming episodes, we’d better get on with the most entertaining one I’ve had in a while.

First, We Need Some Contrast

Consultancy Strategic Vision surveyed over 250,000 pickup truck owners in the United States. I found the results quite interesting:

1. 75% never use their truck¹ to tow something.
2. 70% never go off-road.

These are the numbers owners anonymously admitted to.

Knowing many of these dual cab off-road tough trucks are in fact mainly used for getting groceries and doing the school run, I thought I’d better get my tiny electric Japanese kei car and do some decent off-roading to compensate for… something.

Fun Fact: Incentivised by tax breaks, Kei cars are a class of their own in Japan. Even though the incentives have been wound back they still represent 30 or 40% of the Japanese domestic market.

When you think about it, the war on the weekend never really stood a chance against the marketing hyperbole car makers use to entice people into totally inappropriate suburban transport.

There still begs a question in my mind though, just like the chicken or egg, is it the Ranger? or is it the type who’s likely to buy one?

A Ford ute driver has ended up with a face full of airbags after he rammed a Jaguar in a road rage incident on a busy West Terrace street.

The impatient driver nudged the Jaguar with his front bumper just around 2pm yesterday, before ramming the front car again with greater… pic.twitter.com/ePsDsOAhUt

— 10 News First Adelaide (@10NewsFirstAdl) April 20, 2023

Sitting outside a pizza place for tea last night, it’s no wonder that I overheard a young bloke complaining about paying $530/month for insurance on his Ranger. I have about 11 special interest wheels insured for less money.

What’s priceless was his girlfriend’s reaction to our little Kei van as we pulled away. Her smiles said it was so cute she would have killed for a ride in this car, his look could have killed me.

Ram, Rogue, Gladiator, Raptor, Warrior… iMiev?

You couldn’t tell from the name, but I’ll admit that I’m the odd one out there because my choice of svelte SUV manliness is only two-wheel drive, no lockers, no limited slip. I mean, other than the 47 kW of raw power—that’s a limit, I guess.

You might think this would render a bloke pretty impotent in deep soft sand, but here’s proof that low morals and low tyre pressure will get you a lot further than you think.

Serene mode engaged, Irene floats effortlessly over the soft sand.

Legendary Landcruiser; Lols..!

Camped nearby, we heard the drone of a hard-working diesel being ground to a halt. I swear this was not in any way set up. You’d see by the “put that camera away” facial expressions if I had dared zoom in.

Knowing the terrain, our very experienced farm hand engaged four-wheel drive, picked up some pace, and made a couple of valiant attempts at this very same sandhill on the very same day.

Hilarity ensued.

Being used to a modern four-wheel drive (one that doesn’t have buggy springs), they forgot the front hubs don’t engage automatically, so this was effectively rear-wheel drive ute… just like Irene the iMiev.

At least it wasn’t bogged to the axles when we turned up with some long-handled spades.

So despite the big diesel power, big ground clearance, and the big tyres, this rig couldn’t make it up the incline.

Maybe more speed, less tyre pressure, or more aggressive tyres would have helped. In the end, there was shovelling involved to get the show back on the road.

Standby For More

I have decided a recovery point towbar is the next improvement my little off-roader needs! Though I’m not sure about a roof rack, mud tyres, and a lift kit. Maybe something wider than a 145 tyre on the front would be good anyway.

Irene certainly doesn’t need a winch, though; the supermarket isn’t that hard to access.

Still, a bigger battery would be handy. It certainly hasn’t failed, but the range has shrunk to around 75km.

After 15 years of development, battery technology is available now, which means you can pack more than twice the range into the same space.

Roughly speaking, it’s costing me $1.17 per hundred kilometres, so I’d love to get $2.80 into it.

Modesty Is A Virtue

The mind boggles as to how much people spend on four-wheel drives and accessories to trick them up.

With car-crushing “hooning” laws and a lack of off-street venues, young blokes are now lifting their rides instead of lowering them, so they can go bush bashing instead of street racing.

Having seen first-hand where they leave rubbish, cut fences, and dump sump oil straight onto the ground doing an oil change, it does erode your faith in humanity.

Hopefully, the move to electrification will help people realise you can get a long way without all the toys. And with V2L-capable vehicles, there’s no need to take a noisy generator with you either.

Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/off-road-ev/