Nissan is launching a new electric pickup truck
through a Dongfeng joint venture in China: the Dongfeng Rich 6 EV. With its aggressive zero-emission
mandate, China has forced automakers to accelerate their deployment of all-electric
vehicles in the country. Several of them are now making EVs just for the Chinese market.
Nissan is one of them and with their joint venture
with state-owned Dongfeng, they are launching an all-electric version of their
Dongfeng Rich pickup truck. The gasoline version is based on Nissan’s pickup truck platform and
it has been converted to an electric powertrain.
The Dongfeng Rich 6 EV is relatively compact
(5290/1850/1790 mm with a 3050 mm wheelbase) wth a small bed (1510/1562/475 mm) and it
has curb weight of 1,983 kg with a max load of 490 kg. Its double cabin can seat 5
people. As for the powertrain, it is equipped with a single 160 hp/420 Nm
electric motor and a 68 kWh battery pack.
Dongfeng claims a range of 403 km on a
single charge, but that’s using the NEDC standard, which is generally nowhere
near a normal use case. The top speed is 110 km/h and the company says that it is
fast-charging capable. Without confirming the max charge rate, Dongfeng says
that it takes 45 minutes to get to 80% state-of-charge.
The Dongfeng Rich 6 EV should hit the market as soon
as next month. The price is unknown, but it is expected to be extremely cheap —
maybe even 130,000 yuan (US$ 18,900) after subsidies.
