Toyota sends the concept Hilux Revo BEV electric truck to Australia to be tested before it might be sold in the United States. Toyota Thailand experts made the Hilux Revo BEV Concept a one-of-a-kind vehicle using Toyota EV parts. This is where the gas- and diesel-powered Hilux trucks are made. The company showed off an electric Tacoma in 2021, but they have yet to say when a production model will come to North America. When Tesla finally starts making its long-awaited electric pickup in September, all eyes will be on the Cybertruck. Toyota is also paying attention to this market despite doubts about EVs. Toyota started testing the Hilux BEV Revo in Australia earlier this month after the concept car was shown for the first time in December 2022. The most recent tests with local engineers and business partners could determine how interested dealers and companies are in a similar model before it goes into production. The Hilux BEV Revo Concept is a unique car based on a truck made in Thailand for export to Australia and Oceania. It keeps the look of the production car, even though the grille is closed off and there is a charging port on the left front fender. Toyota says that 145,000 Hilux cars will be sold in Thailand alone in 2022, making it the “ute capital of the world.” The company also says the car is more of an ute than anything else, staying true to the original Australian term. Australia fell behind the rest of the world in sales last year, with only 64,000 units sold. However, the Hilux remained the best-selling car there. “Our evaluation engineers and industry partners have confirmed that this city-focused HiLux BEV—while still very much a concept vehicle—looks, feels, and drives like a production model,” said Sean Hanley, vice president of Toyota Australia’s sales, marketing, and franchise operations. Is it possible to get this kind of model in the US? It’s not likely to be a Hilux because of the Chicken Tax, which says that any electric truck type sold in the US must also be made in the US. Trends in the industry suggest that a Tacoma or other vehicle with a battery-electric drivetrain would have to be made simultaneously with the fuel model. Adding an EV drivetrain later in the production cycle would be impossible. Because of this, Toyota would have to release a new truck model at the same time as the mid-size electric pickup in the United States. Toyota showed off an idea for an electric Tacoma truck in 2021 and said that a model like it was being made, but they still needed to say when or what it would have at the time. But even when the Hilux REVO concept was shown off last year, Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota, said the company probably would wait to make an electric truck. “I believe we need to be realistic about when society will be able to adopt battery-electric vehicles fully and when our infrastructure can support them at scale,” according to Toyoda. Because battery electric vehicles, as well as the fully autonomous cars that we were all expected to be driving by now, will take longer to become widely available than the media would have us believe they will believe.” There are other ways to help the world reach its goal of being carbon neutral, and they aren’t limited to battery electric vehicles. As of 2024, the Tacoma is a brand-new car. If there’s any reason to be hopeful, an electric version of it will come out very soon, this product cycle rather than the next. Based on how the market is moving, the electric Tacoma is likely to be found on the pickup’s four-door type with a short bed. We might see it as early as late 2024 or as late as early 2025. Is that clear? But remember that Toyota has promised to make ten more EVs available by 2026. Because of this, at least one of the cars is a pickup truck.
