Electric Utes Coming to Australia: What Is Confirmed, Delayed and Cancelled (2026-27)

One battery-electric ute is confirmed for Australia with a date and a price as of October 2026: the MG U9 EV, $78,990 before on-road costs, due between October and December. Everything else on the list is a maybe, a trial, or a no. Isuzu cancelled the D-Max EV for Australia this month, LDV has gone quiet on the eTerron 9, Kia has shelved the Tasman EV in favour of a hybrid, Geely is bringing its Riddara ute here as a plug-in hybrid rather than the EV, and Ford’s 2027 electric ute is a US launch with no Australian confirmation. This page keeps the confirmed, the unconfirmed and the cancelled apart, and we update it whenever a maker moves. For the two electric utes you can buy today, see our electric utes guide.

Which electric utes are confirmed for Australia?

That is the whole confirmed list. The U9 EV matters because it is the first electric ute sold here with a 3,500 kg tow rating and a battery over 100 kWh, which makes it the first that can plausibly do the caravan job; its first Australian towing tests over summer will say how far it gets. Our electric utes guide has the full spec comparison and the towing maths.

Which electric utes have no date?

• LDV eTerron 9. The electric twin of the diesel Terron 9 was promised for 2025, then removed from LDV’s Australian website. In September 2026 LDV told CarsGuide it “continues to work with the factory on the LDV eTerron 9 electric ute”, with no date. The claimed figures from the original announcement were 430 km WLTP and dual-motor all-wheel drive. The diesel Terron 9 is in showrooms, and the eT60, Australia’s first electric ute, is gone from LDV’s line-up: its page on ldvautomotive.com.au now returns a 404.
• JAC T9 EV. JAC’s electric T9 has been in Australia since 2025 in a mining trial with WA contractor Warrikal, and JAC’s Australian managing director told GoAuto in May 2026 that a retail launch was “a possibility”. Trial-spec figures: an 88 kWh LFP battery, about 340 km WLTP, 900 kg payload and 2,000 kg towing, per Zecar. JAC has launched its plug-in hybrid Hunter here instead.
• Ford Fathom. Ford’s 2027 electric ute is not a Ranger. The Fathom is a monocoque mid-size dual-cab on Ford’s new Universal EV platform, announced for the US at US$28,350 before on-roads. Ford has trademarked the name in Australia and says the platform supports right-hand drive, but has not confirmed a local launch. If it comes, it would be the cheapest electric ute here by a wide margin; “if” is doing a lot of work.
• Nissan Navara EV. Nissan has confirmed a plug-in hybrid Navara Pro for 2027, with a full EV only “under consideration” after that.

Which electric utes have been cancelled or converted?

• Isuzu D-Max EV: cancelled for Australia. On 5 October 2026 Isuzu Ute Australia’s Rod Caldwell told EV Central: “Our customers are not screaming for it. Our dealers are not screaming for it.” Isuzu will not import the electric D-Max, which is sold in the UK and Thailand, and says it will not force a BEV into the market just to meet the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard. Light commercials, Caldwell said, are still 84 per cent diesel.
• Kia Tasman EV: shelved. Kia has said the Tasman will go hybrid, but an electric Tasman is not on its Australian plan, as EV Central reported. The diesel Tasman’s slow start and tariff pressures were the reasons given.
• Geely Riddara RD6: converted to a plug-in hybrid. The RD6 is a battery EV in New Zealand, but Zecar reports that Australia will get a plug-in hybrid version with a 1.5-litre petrol engine instead. No date.
• Mitsubishi Triton EV: not happening soon. Mitsubishi is developing hybrid systems for the Triton and Pajero and has said a conventional hybrid comes before a plug-in; there is no electric Triton on the plan.
• Tesla Cybertruck and Rivian R1T. Neither is sold to the public here. Tesla has no right-hand-drive Cybertruck, and the Rivian R1T is in Australia only through mining contractor MEVCO, which imports left-hand-drive utes for mine sites and cannot sell them for road use, as The Driven reported.
• Ford F-150 Lightning. Only ever sold as a right-hand-drive conversion by importer AusEV, and Ford has stopped building it; AusEV plans to offer the range-extender successor from 2027.

Why are makers cancelling electric utes and launching plug-in hybrids?

Because the plug-in hybrids are selling and the EVs are not. The BYD Shark 6 moved 1,492 utes in September 2026, according to CarExpert’s VFACTS report, in a month when plug-in hybrids took 9.3 per cent of all new vehicles. The LDV eT60, by comparison, sold 19 utes in all of 2025 against more than 4,000 diesel T60s. Every maker that has backed away from a battery ute since (Isuzu, Kia, Geely, Mitsubishi, Nissan) has pointed at the same thing: ute buyers tow, tour and work remote, and a petrol engine covers the gaps that chargers and batteries do not yet. Our hybrid utes guide covers the four plug-in utes you can buy now.

The exception is the back-to-base fleet. Toyota expected to sell 500 HiLux BEVs in 2026 and had 300 orders by July, about 90 per cent from company fleets including BHP, Newcastle Coal, Essential Energy and Acciona, The Driven reported. A mine or a depot with its own chargers and predictable routes is the one place an electric ute already wins on cost, and that is where the early ones are going.

What should you do if you want an electric ute?

If you need one now, the choice is the Musso EV or the HiLux BEV, with the MG U9 EV worth waiting for if you tow. If your driving is suburban and the FBT exemption matters, remember that the novated lease rules favour a battery EV and that the proposed $75,000 cap from April 2027 would catch the U9 and the HiLux pick-ups on list price. If you tow heavy or go remote, a plug-in hybrid ute is the realistic 2026 answer, and the makers’ own decisions this year say the same.

We re-check every entry above when a maker announces, delays or cancels a model. Status and sources were verified on 20 October 2026.