Styling
There's something about the Musso EV, as you walk up to it, that gives you the impression this is an SUV impostor in a three-box-profile suit. It's maybe a bit too hunkered-down and slinky for a 'proper' pick-up, even with the requisite black-plastic cladding swaddled around its lower portions in order to try and convince you it's a tough 4x4, and the option of stylish Blazing Gold paint also further undermines it building a solid case as a 'rugged workhorse'.
That said, we're not complaining about the KGM's appearance; in fact, it's a quite handsome thing, with those six-dash LEDs linking its slim headlights together (cough, Torres EVX, cough) being a particular aesthetic highlight - it's a feature of the EV that the derv-drinking Musso Rhino tried to ape with its latest iteration, incidentally. And this zero-emission Musso is still a physically big thing, measuring 10mm longer than a standard-wheelbase Rhino (EV: 5,160mm) with a 50mm-stretched wheelbase (3,150mm overall), even if it is 30-mill narrower and 100mm less lofty than its diesel-powered cousin.
Interior
If we're to continue the Musso EV v Musso Rhino mini-comparison test here, the former's cabin blows away the latter's. It's a much nicer place to have to spend some time, the integration of its twin 12.3-inch digital screens being far neater here than in the diesel alternative. In the Musso EV, the system uses an Athena 2.0 user interface, and naturally supports both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay if you prefer those arrangements, so despite the fact there are no separate, physical climate controls in the EV (and, indeed, barely any 'hard' switches at all, save for the hazard-warning light button, column stalks and whatever you can see on the steering wheel), we're going to mark the KGM's interior down as a success. It looks pretty swish in here, especially with that copper-coloured trim insert, and while not all the plastics you can locate are of the absolute highest standard going - betraying the manufacturer's value positioning - we've got no real complaints about the Musso's interior finishing in the round.
Practicality
Right, here we go. This is where the KGM Musso EV's basis upon the Torres EVX starts to impact its ability as a
bona fide pick-up truck. But then, rival electrics from other companies are also often similarly compromised - witness how much less the Hilux BEV can carry, lug and crawl over, when compared to its 48V Diesel relation, for example.
Thus, while the EV's loadbed turns out to be a bit longer than that in the Musso Rhino (1,345mm plays 1,300mm), it's also narrower (1,515mm, -55mm) and shallower (510mm, -60mm). This, and the (quite advanced, for a pick-up) multilink rear suspension, results in the Musso EV having a maximum payload of just 690kg, or 1,039 litres. So it's not a 'one-tonne' pick-up at all, because it can't take 1,000kg in its cargo bay. The Rhino can, of course, mustering 1,090kg or 1,011 litres as a SWB, and 1,200kg or 1,262 litres in LWB Rhino+ format.
Then there's the towing weight. It's a still-admirable 2,300kg for the EV, but the turbodiesel Rhino lugs the full 3.5 tonnes of braked trailer. There's almost 64mm less ground clearance on the electric Musso (181.4mm in total), while all of its approach, breakover and departure angles are significantly worse than those on the diesel truck. It'll also only ford through a mere 300mm of water, which is an ostensibly feeble wading depth; you get 100mm more from a
Jeep Avenger 4xe. Mind, bizarrely enough, the EV is no worse than the Musso Rhino in this regard - KGM must have mounted the air intake for the diesel engine just behind the lowest point on the front bumper or something. Daft.
Performance
It's back to the good news for supporters of the Musso EV in this internecine battle betwixt it and the Rhino. In every conceivable way, the electric KGM is far nicer to drive than the diesel one.
By rights, it shouldn't be, because the Musso EV - thanks to an 80.6kWh lithium-ion battery giving it a claimed range of a somewhat modest 236 miles - clocks in at the weighing station at a galumphing 2,360kg. That's a sizeable 164 kilos portlier than the diesel, and the EV also has less torque at 339Nm, plays the Musso Rhino's 400Nm.
However, that torque is instant access from a pair of electric motors, providing permanent all-wheel-drive traction, and with an EV-specific single-speed reduction-gear transmission, the acceleration of the 237hp Musso electric is properly swift. The Korean firm claims it'll do the 0-62mph sprint two-thousandths of a second quicker than eight flat (presumably, that 7.98 distinction is vitally important to KGM and its customer base), but whatever the on-paper data, the reality is that the EV is beautifully responsive and brisk out on the public roads. Whereas the gargling old 2.2-litre Rhino is...
not that.
We've already touched on the sub-250-mile range of the Musso EV, which isn't great when you stack it up against other electric SUVs, maybe, yet it's one of the best of this type if you're only considering zero-emission pick-ups. And it managed a perfectly commendable 3.1 miles/kWh during our first drive of the truck, although we have to say we didn't exactly work the KGM hard during that assessment.
With 11kW AC and 120kW DC speeds, the Musso is maybe not the most ultra-rapid of rechargers in the world of EVs, but it's adequate enough for a 36-minute 10-to-80 per cent battery replenishment session. Expect a full (10-100 per cent) top-up on a typical 7.4kW AC domestic wallbox to require more like 12 hours.
Ride & Handling
The ride comfort and rolling refinement of the KGM Musso EV don't just surpass its agricultural stablemate with the Rhino badging - they pretty much eclipse any other truck in the market right now. Think about it: there's no combustion engine here, introducing the considerable vibrations, shudders and acoustic racket of compression-ignition; and with that multilink rear, the Korean machine isn't saddled with primitive (but hardy) leaf springs or live axles.
Therefore, the way the Musso EV goes down the road is most pleasant indeed. It's not perfect, and far from the best for mechanical sophistication if you (once again) range it against other electric crossovers and SUVs, but it does a superb job of rolling along sweetly in everyday traffic conditions. It also has good, positive steering with sharp responses and reasonably impressive body control too, so it scuttles through corners in a more adept fashion than any other 'one-tonner' we can think of, although we'd again stop short of extolling the relative handling virtues of the EV, because we're so confused about precisely what this pick-up really is.
One thing we didn't do with the Musso EV, which we did with the Rhino, is take it off-road. The former has a simple 'one e-motor on each axle' AWD array, which is always on; the latter, the full array of locking diffs and low-ratio 'boxes and selectable two-wheel drive and so on. We'd therefore never expect the electric KGM to get anything like as far into the rough stuff as the Musso Rhino, although it should be alright for transporting lifestyle types to the side of watersport-activity lakes or fishing rivers, for example.
Value
At £39,995 with the plug-in grant of £5,000 applied and sold in one generous specification only, the KGM Musso EV is a great-value machine if you only need a pick-up truck for lighter industrial or commercial duties. It comes with front and rear parking sensors, LED exterior illumination, adaptive cruise, the twin 12.3-inch infotainment set-up, keyless entry-and-go, a 360-degree camera system, dual-zone climate control, a heat pump, wireless smartphone charging, TomTom navigation, leather upholstery, heated and ventilated electrically adjustable front seats, heated rear seats, a heated steering wheel, 17-inch alloys, privacy glass and a long list of ADAS tech as standard, showing just how well-stocked the KGM is from the off.
Verdict
Taking a novel approach to providing an electric pick-up truck, KGM decides not to use its existing diesel-powered machine as the platform, and instead spins the Musso EV off an SUV's underpinnings. This brings with it both benefits and drawbacks, with the former represented by some of the best on-road manners, strongest performance and slickest interior finishing you'll find in the class, and the latter manifesting as the fact the Musso EV is not the most versatile truck you'll ever encounter. But as long as you can overlook the fact it's just an SUV in a weird pick-up fancy dress, what you'll find here is an inexpensive yet highly likeable machine that brings with it a level of practicality that you'll rarely find in a comparative-value electric crossover. For that reason, we're big fans of the intriguing KGM Musso EV.
