This Is What the Future of Electric Trucks Looks Like

Tesla
shook the media world with the unveiling of its Cybertruck. Whether you love
the electric truck’s look or hate it — or think it looks like the illegitimate
child of a cheese grater and a doorstop — it is the first of its kind. This
fully electric truck with a cargo bed is unlike anything else on the road
today. While Tesla might be the first to offer an electric pickup, it
definitely isn’t the last.  What does the future of electric trucks look
like?

Well-Known Brands

Tesla
isn’t the only brand that’s jumping on the electric truck bandwagon, and many
of the companies that have plans for an electric truck are already household
names. Ford is working on an all-electric
version of its iconic F-150 pickup truck, which will likely debut sometime in 2021. The brand made
waves with a viral video in mid-2019 of its electric F-150 pulling more than 1
million pounds of train cars down a track. It will supposedly have one of the
longest ranges of any electric truck on the market. 

GMC
is going one step further by reviving one of its best-known
brands —
Hummer — and bringing back the gas-guzzling truck as a fully electric version.
We don’t have a debut date yet, but it will be interesting to see this massive
truck showing back up on highways since the last Hummer H3 rolled off the
assembly lines back in 2010.

Startups and Wildcards

Outside
of Tesla and the two brands already mentioned, the future of electric trucks
looks a lot like new brands and startups. Rivian, for example, is working on an electric pickup called the R1T. It will
have everything you’d expect, from all-wheel drive and 11,000-pound towing
capacity to a range of anywhere from 230-400 miles, depending on the battery
pack you choose. According to Rivan, the R1T can accelerate from 0-60 in a
mind-blowing three seconds. However, we haven’t had a chance to put that claim
to the test as of yet. 

Lordstown
Motors is another startup, one that made headlines recently for purchasing GM’s
shuttered Lordstown plant, that is working on an electric truck. The brand started accepting
$1,000 deposits to claim its electric pickup that should be out in 2021, called
the Endurance. We don’t have a lot of information on this truck yet, but as it
gets closer to its release date, we should have more info available. 

Electric truck startup Nikola also revealed an electric truck concept earlier this year. It could potentially have a range of up to 600 miles with both electric and hydrogen power cells or 300 miles on battery power alone. It is one of the only concepts on the market right now that’s offering both hydrogen and battery power. In addition to this truck, Nikola is planning to build upward of 700 hydrogen stations in North America to support these unique hybrid vehicles. 

The Future of Electric Trucks

The
push toward electric vehicles doesn’t mean you have to give up your favorite
pickup truck. All sorts of brands are working on creating EVs, but the future
of this particular type of vehicle might not lie in the hands of Tesla, GM and
Ford. Instead, if companies like Rivan, Nikola and Lordstown Motors are any
indication, the future of the electric truck will likely lie in the hands of
startups.

If these little companies can provide affordable electric trucks that function as well or better than those created by the brand names, they could carve out a niche in this already competitive market.

– Martin Banks