KGM Musso EV: Korea’s new lifestyle-focused pick-up pushed

While pitching its new Musso Rhino as a standard workhorse, KGM is venturing into new territory with its all-new Musso EV, an electrical four-wheel-drive pick-up truck. 

This is a really area of interest section: it has solely the Maxus eTerron9 and Isuzu D-Max EV for firm, though the pool of electrical pick-ups is about to develop with the arrival of the Toyota Hilux Electric. 

Unlike the Rhino, with its body-on-frame building, the Musso EV borrows its platform from an electrical automotive, the KGM Torres EVX.

Compared with the high-riding Rhino, then, the EV appears extra SUV-like, with a noticeably decrease experience top and longer wheelbase.

It has a sleeker, cab-back stance and its styling is extra aligned with KGM’s vary of SUVs quite than the Rhino’s extra rugged aesthetic. 

The Musso EV is powered by a 80.6kWh lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery that’s adequate for as much as 236 miles of vary.

On a really quick drive round Oxfordshire, it returned 2.6mpkWh, which suggests it ought to cowl greater than 200 miles in real-world circumstances. 

While its real-world vary isn’t excellent, the Musso can nonetheless journey a lot additional on a cost than the Hilux Electric (159 miles) and a D-Max (163 miles). 

Hook the Musso EV as much as a speedy charger and a 10-80% increase ought to take now not than 36 minutes, or 10 hours in case you plug it into an 11kW residence wallbox charger.

Plus, like Kia EVs, the Musso options vehicle-to-load (V2L) expertise, permitting you to show the automotive into a large charging station for small electrical home equipment, corresponding to a kettle. 

The dual-motor powertrain makes 234bhp and 250lb ft of torque for a 0-62mph time of 8.0sec. While that sounds pretty sedate, it’s extra sprightly than the diesel-engined Rhino. 

And whereas efficiency tails off pretty shortly, it has greater than sufficient tempo for nipping into gaps in visitors and motorway slip roads. 

The uneven experience that afflicts the Rhino isn’t current right here both. The EV could really feel extra floaty, but it surely’s extra snug – though the low-speed experience could be fairly brittle.

The Musso EV has additionally inherited the inside design of its SUV siblings, and general it’s extra fascinating and vibrant than the Rhino’s sturdy cabin.