Bakkie wars: We drive the Changan Hunter, China's range-extended EV double cab

Chinese carmaker Changan punts its Hunter as "unlike anything else on the road", and motoring journo Melinda Ferguson would agree.

The range-extended EV bakkie, the Hunter K50 REEV, delivers on expectations, she reports.

The vehicle delivers 200 kW of power and 470 Nm of torque, but it's how this is delivered with electric driving and a petrol-powered range extender that makes the difference.

In a nutshell, this new tech allows the petrol engine to actually charge the battery and extend the electric range so that you don't have to keep on putting petrol in, Ferguson says.

"It's got two electric motors, on the front and back axles, and then it's driven by a 2-litre turbocharged petrol engine. But the petrol engine drives the electric batteries, so you've got a constant feed. If you drive it properly, you have now the petrol engine feeding the battery instead of the other tech where the battery is on its own and the petrol on its own."