The wave of electric trucks that you’ve heard about for years is finally here. It took a while, but there are now several battery-powered pickups that you can buy or reserve, and the segment is expected to grow significantly during the first half of the 2020s. There’s a lot at stake: Trucks are profitable and hugely popular in America. It’s not a coincidence that the Ford F-Series has ruled the sales chart for decades.
Here’s a look at the battery-powered pickups that are either already available, around the corner, or currently being developed.
Bollinger B2
Base price: $125,000
Base range: 200 miles
Available in: 2022 (estimated)
Forget surfboards and Instagram-friendly beaches — Bollinger’s B2 is being designed to excel when the going gets tough. It’s like a pair of steel-toed boots on wheels. It will slot into the EPA’s Class 3 category, meaning it will land in the same segment as heavy-duty variants of the Chevrolet Silverado and the Ford F-Series, among other rigs. It won’t have power windows, interior carpeting, airbags, or a giant touchscreen. When it comes to electric pickups, the B2 is shaping up to be as work-focused as it gets.
Its 614-horsepower powertrain is relatively compact, and the cabin only seats four, so Bollinger carved out a lumber-friendly storage compartment that runs from end to end. The B2 also boasts 15 inches of ground clearance, a 5,000-pound payload, and a relatively low 7,500-pound towing capacity. This all comes at a steep price: $125,000. The project has been delayed several times and production is now tentatively scheduled to start in late 2022.
Chevrolet Silverado EV
Base price: $105,000
Base range: 400 miles
Available in: 2023
Chevrolet’s upcoming entry into the electric truck segment almost looks like a follow-up to the Avalanche. Related to the GMC Hummer EV, the 2024 Silverado EV will be offered in two variants called WT (work truck) and RST, respectively, when it goes on sale, though only fleet buyers will be able to order the cheaper and more basic trim. RST models will use a pair of electric motors to deliver through-the-road all-wheel-drive and an output of 664 horsepower and 780 pound-feet of torque when the Wide Open Watts mode is engaged. Towing capacity and payload are rated at 10,000 and 1,300 pounds, respectively, so the Silverado EV can tow as much as the F-150 Lightning but haul less.
Capable of driving for about 400 miles on a charge, the Silverado EV looks nothing like the gasoline- and diesel-burning models that are currently in showrooms. It has a generously-sized frunk, and it can be configured with up to 10 outlets that power tools, toys, or both. And, like the Avalanche, it has a Midgate. Users can fold down the panel between the cab and the cargo box to get over nine feet of loading space.
Chevrolet will begin building the Silverado EV alongside GMC’s Hummer EV in 2023. Fleet deliveries of the WT trim are scheduled to begin in the spring of 2023 while the RST First Edition will roll off the assembly line in the fall of that year. Other versions will follow.
Ford F-150 Lightning
Base price: $39,974
Base range: 230 (estimated)
Available in: 2022
One of the most important (and most realistic) electric pickups headed our way is the Ford F-150 Lightning. Based on the 14th generation of the Blue Oval’s perennially popular truck, the Lightning aims to bundle everything buyers love about the gasoline-burning F-150 in a battery-powered package. It’s powered by a pair of electric motors (one per axle) that develop a combined 563 horsepower and 775 pound-feet of torque, figures that should unlock a zero-to-60-mph time of about four seconds. What kind of battery pack the motors draw electricity from depends on how the truck is configured. Ford offers a Standard Range battery that should provide about 230 miles of range and an Extended Range option good for around 300 miles. Towing and payload capacities check in at 10,000 and 2,000 pounds, respectively.
Ford packed a lot of neat features into the F-150 Lightning. It boasts a huge frunk with four power outlets, two USB charge ports, cargo hooks, and a drain plug, for example. The high-end Lariat and Platinum models also receive a 15.5-inch touchscreen for the infotainment system. Pricing for the Lightning starts at $39,974 for the entry-level, work-oriented model and production is scheduled to start in 2022.
GMC Hummer EV
Base price: $112,595 (at launch)
Base range: 350 miles
Available in: Now
GMC introduced the first Hummer-badged off-roader in nearly a decade in late 2020. The truck picks up where its predecessors left off from a design standpoint but it’s entirely electric; it doesn’t burn a drop of gasoline. Its specifications are nonetheless impressive. GMC quotes up to 350 miles of range, 1,000 horsepower, and a three-second sprint to 60 mph that’s on par with many high-performance cars. While that’s a lot of horsepower, the Hummer EV’s towing capacity checks in at a relatively low 7,500 pounds while GMC pegs payload at 1,300 pounds.
General Motors president Mark Reuss revealed that one-, two-, and three-motor variants will be available once production ramps up. These models haven’t been fully detailed yet, but we expect that they’ll offer less range, less horsepower, and slower acceleration at a cheaper price.
Like earlier Hummer models, GMC’s electric truck is incredibly capable off the beaten path. It offers about 13 inches of suspension travel, through-the-road all-wheel-drive, and innovative tech features like a mode called Crab Walk that helps it maneuver out of impossibly tight spots. There’s another point it shares with earlier Hummer models: It’s huge. It measures about 217 inches long, 80 inches tall, and 87 inches wide, and the Edition 1 model weighs precisely 9,046 pounds, which is about 1,000 pounds more than the war-bred H1.
GMC began building the Hummer EV in the Detroit-Hamtramck factory in late 2021.
Lordstown Endurance
Base price:$52,500
Base range: 250 miles
Available in: 2022 (estimated)
With 600 hp from four individual in-wheel motors and a 7,500-pound towing capacity, the Lordstown Endurance sounds like an all-around practical work truck that never needs to visit a gas station. It delivers about 250 miles of range in its most basic configuration, and its onboard power outlet promises to let users run tools and charge their devices off the grid by drawing power from the battery pack. Visually, it’s characterized by a boxy silhouette and a tall, grille-less front end that hints at the battery-powered drivetrain beneath the sheet metal.
Production will take place in a former General Motors factory located in Lordstown, Ohio, but the project has been delayed several times. In November 2021, Lordstown warned that it doesn’t plan to begin shipping the Endurance to buyers until the third quarter of 2022.
Rivian R1T
Base price: $69,000
Base range: 230 miles
Available in: Now
Rivian became the industry’s sweetheart when it introduced the R1T at the 2018 Los Angeles auto show. This electric off-roader is a lifestyle-oriented model that’s more comfortable hauling kayaks than hay bales, and it’s decked out with clever features like a pass-through under the cargo box and a feature called tank turn. Rivian’s project was so convincing that Amazon funneled a substantial amount of money into it.
The specifications sheet lists three available lithium-ion battery packs ranging from 105 to 180 kilowatt-hours, between 230 and 400 miles of range, and a towing capacity of about 11,000 pounds. It’s real, too: Digital Trends drove it in September 2021 and concluded it sets a high bar. Rivian has started delivering the Launch Edition model, and customers who ordered another version should get their truck soon.
Tesla Cybertruck
Base price: $39,000
Base range: 250 miles
Available in: TBD
The radical-looking Tesla Cybertruck is one of the most controversial vehicles on this list. Unveiled in 2019, it will offer six seats, a 17-inch touchscreen, and between 250 and 500 miles of range depending on how it’s configured. We’re told that it will also be able to tow up to 14,000 pounds, though the company has told California regulators that this model will be close to the weight of a medium-duty Ford F-250.
It’s important to note that these figures remain purely hypothetical; Tesla hasn’t started building the Cybertruck yet, you can’t go out and buy one, and it hasn’t even unveiled the production version of the concept it introduced in 2019. What you see above isn’t necessarily what you’ll get when production begins. Speaking of, it’s still too early to tell when we’ll see this wedge-shaped 4×4 in the metal. Production was delayed from 2021 to 2022, but Tesla recently removed that date from its website.
