Transcription
Well, check this out. New Zealand now has a fully electric ute on offer. It's the Radara RD6. It costs $6990. It does 360ks per charge. But wait till you hear the towing. This humble looking battery-powered ute can tow three freaking tons. Yes, we've got an RD6, the Rural Delivery 6 from Radar. It's a J branded ute. This is just a teaser video to show you what you're going to get. A full review is coming soon, but I can teach you some basic specs about this thing.
So, it has a, I believe, 73 kWh battery pack, which gives it that 360ks of range. This is the only battery size we're going to get for the foreseeable future. We may get larger sizes, maybe in a year or two, maybe. There's also supposedly a plug-in hybrid version coming in a year or so approximately. But again, now that there's an electric option, why would you bother with a plug-in hybrid? Because, you know, it's grunty. It is grunty. By the way, 0 to 100, 4 1/2 seconds, 315 kW, all-wheel drive, two electric motors in this thing.
But let's go and have a look at the front. Now, like I said, I don't have the chance to drive this today, but we can at least have a look around. We start with the front, and you can see it's a bit of a giveaway what the model has got written on the front there. The thing is, the front of this car looks kind of car-like, and that's a dangerous game to play because it could end up looking a bit like the SsangYong Actyon Sports. You know, that horrific looking thing from 2006 or so. This looks a bit more normal. If there was a Tinder for cars, I think this one would be okay. Also, underneath this car-like bonnet, it hides a secret. There is a frunk or front compartment underneath there, which, as you can see, it's actually pretty usable.
But what about the tray? It is actually quite usable. It is, if I can open it. Check that out. 1,200 L. That is about the same as a Ford Ranger, which is, you know, pretty impressive. As you saw, it came down. The gate came down quite softly because it's got shocks built in. Also, and here's a little piece of resistance for you. Check this out. Look at that. An actual step. If I can do this while holding a camera and not break my neck. Look at that. Easy. Not as easy as me after two drinks, but easy. As for the tray, it is lined. It has hooks built in as well. Of course, it's got a reasonable capacity, similar depth to the Ford Ranger, to the BYD Shark. It is by all accounts a fairly normal ute.
But the second piece of resistance is what's right behind me. Check this out. Three power outlets, two 12-volt outlets with a total AC output of 6 kW. That means that in this ute, you can run your power tools all day long. Or you can get to your job site and run your saws or maybe just your coffee machine or your spud warmer, and it'll run for ages because the battery in this ute is a fairly usable battery size. So, this could be a bit of a game-changer, although I hate using that word.
But, it's the interior of the car that you're going to be spending your time in. So, let's have a look. First of all, how easy is it to get in and out of? And because it is more car-like than the average ute, it's actually not that bad. You can sort of just slide sideways into it. You don't have to climb up or anything. Although I should point out that there is a step to get into. It looks as though it's fixed. We had a look underneath it. You may be able to remove it because that's the only thing that makes getting into this ute a little tricky is that that sticks out. So you do have to sort of go legs akimbo in order to get in there, but once you're inside, it is spacious.
And that's the thing. You may look at the outside of this ute and think that, well, this is a small ute, like maybe an early '90s Ford Ranger or maybe a Ford Falcon. You know, back when utes used to be normal-sized. Well, this is actually quite a chunker. It's a big vehicle. It doesn't look, I mean, it's not as big as a Ranger, but it is still a big vehicle in terms of dimensions. The good side of that, it means that you've got plenty of room, heaps of headroom, heaps of legroom, electronically adjustable seats, heated seats in the front, ventilated seats in the front as well, ventilated seats in the back as well, believe it or not.
What's right in front of me, though? Let's have a look. We have a touchscreen display here. This controls everything. And as you can see, the menu is surprisingly comprehensive. I thought it might be a little bit, you know, sort of basic, but no, you scroll through it. It's got a lot of gadgetry. Also got another 13.2-inch display in front of us. This is the instrument cluster. Overseas models have a heads-up display. This one does not, but still, what you get in terms of interior is nice. And I should point out this delicious coffee brown interior, or cognac as I think they call it. It is available in New Zealand. It's a surprisingly nice place to be. I can't believe this is a ute.
And look at the width. You could be easily 200 kilos and fit in this thing. There's so much lateral width. You've got tactile buttons for the air conditioning controls. You've got a multi-functional steering wheel. You've got Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. You've got wireless phone charging as well. You've got no shortage of USB ports. You've got a tray there. You've got 12-volt outlets. You've got a usable glove box. You've got a deep center console.
And wait till you see the room in the back. Now, a lot of utes, they can be compact. Remember the first-generation Mini? Well, yeah. This, however, is not bad. It's not the biggest vehicle I've ever been in, but look at the legroom. Decent amount there. Look at the headroom above my head. A decent amount there. We've also got a pull-down armrest here with cup holders. We've got, believe it or not, ventilated seats here in the back. Not heated though, just ventilated. That's it's odd, but I'd rather be cool than hot. We've also got vents in the back here to keep you cool. We've got USB charging down there, back pockets, and overall, it is a nice place to be. I know it sounds like I'm waxing lyrical about this thing as if I'm paid by J or Radara, but I'm not. This is just something different, and I like different stuff.
Let's talk towing now, though. And this thing is surprising, at least the specs are. So, it can tow 3 tons, which is unusual. I mean, for example, the BYD Shark 6, it tows 2 1/2 tons. The Ford Ranger Raptor tows 2 1/2 tons. The Ford Ranger XLT tows more, however, but that burns petrol or diesel. This does not. Also, the tray capacity, the loading capacity, that's, you know, things in the back, luggage, people, is more than one ton. That's on top of the 3-ton towing capacity. So, in theory, you could load this up with 860, 900 kilos of people and potatoes and tow your 3-ton caravan. However, what that does to the range, I don't know. That's what we're going to find out when I get my hands on this in just a few weeks. So, press that like and subscribe button because I'm keen to see what this thing's like in the real world. Maybe even an off-road test because it is an off-road vehicle. It's got two electric motors, and the people here, although they're paid to say it, they do say that it's supposedly quite good off-road. We're going to find that out for sure. Thing is, it's got road tires on it, so I don't really know how good it's going to be. Still be fun finding out, won't it?
One thing that's also kind of interesting is that the weight of this vehicle makes it weigh around about the same as a Ford Ranger XLT. And that's surprising because this thing has got a battery in it. Normally batteries make vehicles heavy, right? Somehow this thing weighs about the same. And one of the ways they've done that is by making this a monocoque. Instead of, you know, like a Ford Ranger or BYD Shark 6, they're running on a chassis, a railed chassis. This is one box. And that sometimes makes the vehicle weaker. But judging by the specs on this, it doesn't seem to be true. But it does also make the vehicle lighter. And I think that's how they manage to get the weight down. But in terms of range in the real world, in terms of charging speed, in terms of efficiency, off-road ability, towing ability, all that will be coming very soon. So, do hit the subscribe button because I can't wait to get my hands on this. New Zealand's newest, only fully electric ute.