Hilux EV Is Here—But With a Tiny Battery for a Pickup Truck
- 4 hours ago
- 4 min read
Toyota has finally pulled the covers off the all-new, ninth-generation Hilux, and there's plenty to talk about. Seven decades of heritage. Over 27 million sales. A bold new "Tough x Agile" design. An interior that finally feels premium. And yes—a fully electric Hilux BEV, a first for Toyota's body-on-frame lineup.
But here's the thing that jumps out the moment you dig into the specs: this electric pickup ships with a 59.2 kWh battery. In an era where consumer EVs are routinely packing 80, 100, even 120+ kWh packs, Toyota's decision to go small is either refreshingly pragmatic or worryingly limiting, depending on where you stand.
The Range Reality: 257 km (WLTP)
Let's put that 59.2 kWh pack in context. Toyota claims up to 257 km of combined WLTP range, stretching to 380 km in city driving. For a vehicle whose entire identity is built on going anywhere and doing anything, those numbers feel... tight.
Compare that to the competition. The Ford F-150 Lightning starts with a 98 kWh pack (370+ km range). The Rivian R1T offers 105 kWh as its smallest option. Even in the more compact European pickup segment, the Hilux BEV's battery looks modest. Very modest.
Toyota's defence? This isn't a lifestyle truck for cross-country road trips. It's aimed at site-specific commercial operators—forestry crews, airport maintenance teams, industrial complex fleets—who drive predictable daily routes and return to base each night. For that use case, 257 km might genuinely be enough. The question is whether buyers will accept "enough" when competitors promise "more than enough."
Why So Small? The Engineering Trade-Off
The battery isn't small because Toyota couldn't build a bigger one. It's small because of where Toyota chose to put it: inside the frame rails.
This is a critical engineering decision. By housing the 59.2 kWh pack within the Hilux's ladder frame—protected by the chassis structure itself, with aluminium impact-absorbing sections and a robust undercover—Toyota preserved the Double Cab interior space and load bed dimensions. The battery doesn't intrude into the cabin. It doesn't eat cargo space. It doesn't compromise the 700 mm wading depth. And it keeps the centre of gravity low.
A larger battery would have required either:
A taller pack protruding below the frame (goodbye ground clearance, goodbye wading depth)
Intrusion into the cabin or load area (goodbye practicality)
A complete rethinking of the body-on-frame architecture (goodbye "authentic Hilux")
Toyota chose the conservative path. The battery uses five 16-cell modules arranged to fit the available frame space. It's water-cooled with a high-resistance, long-life coolant. A patented diamond-pattern fastening system isolates it from frame torsion during extreme off-roading. It's robust. It's protected. It's just... not very big.
Charging: Fast, But You'll Need It Often
The Hilux BEV supports DC fast charging at up to 125 kW, delivering a 10–80% charge in roughly 30 minutes. AC charging at 10 kW takes about 6.5 hours for a full charge. Owners can schedule charging via the MyToyota app to take advantage of off-peak rates.
But here's the rub: with only 59.2 kWh to play with, you'll be visiting those chargers more frequently than owners of larger-battery rivals. For fleet operators with depot charging, this is manageable. For anyone planning longer distances or towing heavy loads—where range drops significantly—the charging infrastructure becomes a genuine planning constraint.
What the BEV Gets Right
Before dismissing the electric Hilux entirely, it's worth acknowledging where Toyota has absolutely nailed the brief:
Permanent all-wheel drive with front and rear eAxles producing a combined 208 kW and 473 Nm. The rear eAxle alone makes 128 kW/268 Nm—serious grunt for off-road traction.
First-ever BEV Multi-Terrain Select (MTS) with a new "Mogul" mode, using precise torque and braking control to tackle rock, sand, mud, dirt, and bumpy terrain. No low-range gearbox required.
700 mm wading depth—identical to the Hybrid 48V and ICE models. The eAxle breather is mounted high to prevent water ingress. This is not a compromised, pavement-only electric truck.
Payload of 710–715 kg and 1,600 kg braked towing capacity. Not class-leading, but competitive for electric pickups and sufficient for many commercial applications.
Toyota's Battery Care Programme: 70% capacity retention guaranteed for 10 years or one million kilometres. That's confidence in longevity, even if the starting capacity feels limited.
The Hybrid 48V: The Smart Money?
For buyers who can't live with 257 km of range, the Hilux 2.8 Hybrid 48V remains the pragmatic choice. The mild-hybrid diesel carries over with 204 hp, 500 Nm, 9.7–10.0 l/100 km economy, and—crucially—no range anxiety whatsoever. It tows 3,500 kg, carries over 1,000 kg, and now gets the full MTS and MTM off-road tech previously reserved for higher grades.
Toyota has also confirmed a hydrogen fuel cell Hilux FCEV for 2028, suggesting the company sees battery-electric as just one path among many, not the definitive future.
Verdict: Capable, But Compromised by Design
The all-new Hilux is a significant step forward. The interior quality, the technology, the safety systems, and the sheer breadth of the powertrain lineup demonstrate Toyota's commitment to keeping this icon relevant.
But the Hilux BEV embodies a tension that Toyota hasn't fully resolved. It wants to offer a zero-emission pickup that is authentically a Hilux—tough, capable, go-anywhere. And to preserve that identity, it accepted a battery that limits where the electric version can actually go.
For fleet operators with predictable routes and depot charging, the BEV makes sense. For private buyers dreaming of electric overlanding adventures, the 59.2 kWh pack and 257 km range will feel like a hard ceiling.
Toyota has built an electric Hilux that is undeniably a Hilux. The question is whether enough buyers will settle for a pickup that can go anywhere off-road, but not terribly far on it.
