Great Wall's electric ute set to offer 450km of range

Thursday, 26 August 2021

GWM is working hard on an all-electric ute, which may end up beating Ford and Toyota to market.

Great Wall Motors is working on an all-electric version of its Cannon, which could beat the likes of Ford and Toyota to the electric ute market. Details have been slim, but now we have more of an idea about what sort of range GWM is targeting.

According to product details from the Chinese government’s Ministry of Innovation and Information Technology show that the incoming Ora Cherry Cat SUV, a China-only (at this stage) electric mid-size SUV, which is expected to share its powertrain with the electric GWM ute, will get a 150kW electric motor and a cobalt-free lithium-ion battery.

The GWM Cannon is bigger than a Ford ranger, but with a much, much smaller price.

The cobalt-free battery is cheaper and better for the environment, using nickel-manganese instead.

The website doesn’t seem to show it now, but at some stage the entry confirmed the pair of battery options for the Cherry Cat will be a 60.5kWh pack and a larger 79.6kWh version. Other rumours indicate the larger of the two will be cobalt-free while the smaller will use a more conventional iron phosphate construction.

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The turbocharged diesel in the current Cannon will be swapped for a cobalt-free lithium-ion battery and one or two electric motors.

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The batteries have previously been given WLTP cruising ranges of about 350km and 450km respectively, the latter fitting in with what GWM has said before about its EV ute.

The Chinese brand has also indicated the ute will get a 150kW/350Nm electric motor, although that figure could change with the introduction of all-wheel drive by way of a second motor on the opposite axle.

GWM Australia’s marketing chief, Steve Maciver, told carsales that the electric ute would indeed launch there, along with a plug-in hybrid as well, but timing was uncertain.

“It’s too early to say. EV and PHEV utes are probably still a little way off,” he said.

“There is without a doubt all these alternate powertrain options on the cards, and I think we’ll get the [electric] ute eventually.”

Stuff reached out to GWM New Zealand to see if we will also get it but hasn’t heard back as yet.

As a side note, apparently, GWM isn’t going to use the Cannon name for the electric version. It will probably look somewhat similar, however.

Despite not having a solid launch date, the electric GWM has a shot at beating Toyota and Ford to the EV punch, considering neither of the latter two will have an electric ute on the market before 2023 at the minimum.