KG Mobility’s Musso, a signature five-seater pickup truck from the Korean sport utility maker, has come back as the brand’s first all-electric pickup truck. The Musso EV inherited the predecessor’s built-for-toughness features while enhancing comfort and convenience. Better yet, it boasts an impressive driving distance of up to 400 kilometers per charge.

The Korea Herald recently got to take a Musso EV for a 40 km test drive on inner city roads, highways and countryside paths in southern Seoul and parts of Gyeonggi Province.

As the Musso EV’s exterior design followed the brand’s philosophy of powered-by-toughness, the front side presented a sturdy impression with the hood line and black-colored grille puffing an overbearing look. The dotted LED driving lights spread horizontally across the face of the vehicle added a futuristic feeling. The side of the vehicle reached of a length of 5,160 millimeters, and a wheelbase of 3,150 mm made the pickup truck look like an SUV.

Under the concept of "slim and wide," the interior design featured a sleek and more spacious interface. With the panorama wide screen combining a 12.3-inch digital cluster and another 12.3-inch navigation as the only installment on the dashboard, the front row felt less crowded with no physical buttons or knobs. However, the touch-response of the digital display felt a bit slow for someone who is used to the instant responses of a smartphone over the years.

KG Mobility expressed confidence in the durability of the BYD-developed lithium iron phosphate battery loaded onto the Musso EV, highlighting that the brand offers a 10-year or 1 million km of warranty period, the longest in the Korean auto market, with a guaranteed compensation of up to 500 million won ($343,000) in case of a battery-caused fire.

Once the Musso EV took on the road, the pickup truck proved its powerful performance based on a 152.2-kilowatt driving motor. The acceleration felt better than expected as the electricity-powered pickup truck could speed up as if it were another well-made EV.

Driving at a high speed on open roads, the pickup truck demonstrated a very stable handling. The steering was smooth yet with some heaviness as if to remind the driver it is a pickup truck after all.

The quietness inside the vehicle and the comfort of the suspension came as pleasant surprises on the highways. Before the test drive, KG Mobility officials encouraged the participating reporters to focus on the level of the Musso EV’s noise, vibration and harshness, or NVH. They had all the right reasons to be so daring. Even when driving fast, the pickup truck sounded and felt not much different from some of the other electric SUVs or even electric sedans available in the market.

After concluding the 65-km test drive, the dashboard showed that the remaining distance of the vehicle was 254 km, down only 52 km from the 306 km at the beginning of the test drive, with an electricity efficiency of 5.4 km per kWh.

Available in two trims, the Musso EV’s price begins at 48 million won locally. According to KG Mobility, the automaker plans to hold a launch ceremony for the electric pickup truck for the European market in Turkey in July this year and release the model in other global markets in phases later.

By Kan Hyeong-woo (hwkan@heraldcorp.com)