Munro Vehicles shows its rugged, high-riding battery-electric MK_1 4×4 pickup
Scotland’s Munro Vehicles officially exited stealth mode last December to show its MK_1 battery-electric 4×4 SUV. The big black box on wheels was designed to endure the brutality of transport work in industries like agriculture, construction, defense, mining, and utilities, Munro promising a 50-year service life for the simple mechanical drivetrain assuming care and maintenance, and a five-year/100,000-mile warranty. The startup has completed the second step in its journey to being a truck maker, showing off the MK_1 4×4 pickup in a comely shade of yellow. The only difference between the SUV and the pickup is a small bed bolted to the latter. We’re told it can hold a European-sized pallet, we assume that means the same EUR 1 pallets that the electric Ford Transit Courier recently made a show of accommodating, measuring 31.5 inches by 47.24 inches. Bed payload maxes out at 1,050 kilograms (2,315 pounds).
Otherwise, we’re dealing with the SUV when it comes to specs. There are Utility, Range, and Performance trims. Utility comes with a 61.2-kWh battery (56.3 kWh usable) powering a single motor with 295 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque, managing from 112 to 141 miles on a full charge. The Range and Performance trims get an 82.4-kWh battery (75.2 kWh usable) that tops out at 190 miles of travel. The Range trim sticks with the less powerful motor, whereas the Performance ups output to 375 hp and 516 lb-ft. and ups the braked tow rating to 3,500 kg (7,716 pounds). The smaller battery can recharge at a 70-kW rate, the larger pack can manage 90 kW. Both can go from 15% to 80% state-of-charge in 36 minutes when hooked to the appropriate filling stations. In view of the contained, out-and-back transport needs of the targeted industries, these ranges and charge times should suffice.
The drivetrain — which stands 18.9 inches off the ground — comes standard with a two-speed transfer case and center locking differential. Locking front and rear diffs are optional.
The interior from the instrument panel to the rear bulkhead serves up the same sober cabin as the SUV. That means seating for five on sustainable fabrics, a small infotainment display compatible with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, climate control, a multi-function steering wheel ahead of a small digital cluster, and plenty of ports for charging devices. The bed also holds two outlets where 240-volt appliances can be plugged in.
Co-founder Russell Petersen said Munro already has 200 orders for vehicles, including the pickup. The company’s still getting to its feet, so the plan for this year is to produce 50 pre-production prototypes at Munro’s facility in Scotland. Production deliveries are slated to commence in early 2024, plotting a ramp-up to 2,500 units annually by 2027. Besides the usual industrial hindrances challenging that timeline, Munro and Bollinger are still engaged in a court action over the MK_1’s design. Bollinger filed a lawsuit in February alleging designer Ross Compton, who penned the Bollinger B1 and the MK_1, was a little too liberal with Bollinger’s intellectual property.
If deliveries do begin in 2024 as planned, the pickup comes in £10,000 pounds less than the SUV, costing £49,995 ($62,200 U.S.) before Europe’s value added tax (VAT).
