Can It Be Both Cheap And Cheerful?

What appears to be an EV Hyundai Porter has been spotted testing on a rainy day in Europe. The Porter, also known as the H-100, is a small cabover utility truck that can be configured with a single or quad cab, as well as one of several bed options. It’s not a particularly exciting vehicle, but it’s very useful nonetheless. 

An electric version could make it even more convenient, at least for commercial or fleet usage. It would excel as a local delivery vehicle, where long-distance charging won’t be an issue. A cleaner EV drivetrain would also be a much better choice than the diesel engines currently available in the Porter and likely much cheaper to keep going, given current diesel prices. We know little beyond the new drivetrain, though, as the camouflage and tarp over most of the vehicle don’t tell us much.

The current Porter is primarily available in Asia, Africa, and South America, and it’s unclear whether the testing location means that it’ll eventually debut in Western Europe. Either way, this EV Porter probably won’t make its way Stateside, although weirder things have happened in the automotive world.

One thing the test vehicle does tell us, however, is that this upcoming Porter seems to be abandoning the cabover design, with Hyundai opting for a front cab profile more akin to a Ford Transit. It’s an EV, so it has no engine to account for, but the new profile should improve crash test results. We are also told that Europe’s more stringent crash-testing standards have necessitated the change. This lends more credence to a possible European release, but nothing has been set in stone so far.

Either way, an inexpensive electric utility truck has a lot of potential in a world where gasoline and diesel prices have climbed significantly and show no sign of dropping anytime soon. It likely won’t be a luxury truck, either, so it should be relatively affordable — perhaps even cheaper than Ford’s oft-teased $30,000 EV pickup. Whether Hyundai’s new EV Porter will have enough about it to be a compelling purchase for European, Asian, or African buyers is another question entirely.