Tesla Cybertruck or Chevy Silverado: These are the electric pickup trucks that are vying for your money.
Friday, January 7, 2022 | Chimniii Desk
Key Highlights
- Tesla CybertruckAccording to CEO Elon Musk, the highly awaited pickup truck is likely to arrive near the end of this year, when assembly in Texas is scheduled to begin.
- The vehicle will debut in spring 2023 with a base workhorse trim priced at $39,900, followed by a higher trim RST packed with additional equipment and creature comforts — and a higher price — in the fall.
- GMC Hummer EV Pickup The EV truck, which is now on the market (it made its one and only sale in the fourth quarter), heralds the return of the Hummer badge, which was axed in 2010 due to its exorbitantly low gas mileage.
- Lightning Ford F-150The F-150 full-size truck, powered by a combustion engine, held its status as the best-selling vehicle in the United States for the 40th consecutive year last year, with 726,004 units delivered in 2021.Ford's extended range battery pack for the F-150 Lightning, which President Biden personally tested, is rated at 300 miles by the EPA.
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No segment of the US light vehicle industry has been more crucial to General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler (now Stellantiscontinued )'s survival and prosperity over the decades than the full-size pickup truck.
Protected against foreign imports for decades by the contentious and perplexingly dubbed "Chicken Tax," Detroit's Big Three split up sales of these popular cars among themselves, reaping fat profit margins that helped offset their steady drop in car sales prior to the 1990s SUV boom.
That is why General Motors CEO Mary Barra's Wednesday announcement of the future electrified Chevrolet Silverado grabbed centre stage during her virtual address for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
However, pickup trucks are essentially different animals than automobiles. To safely transport enormous weights in the truck bed and tow massive things without snapping the rear axle in half like a twig, they use a robust ladder-style "body-on-frame" construction with reinforced steel. Only the lukewarmly received Honda Ridgeline features the traditional unibody design used in cars, which serious truck buyers avoid.
These are the electric pickups that will compete for the wallets of pickup truck purchasers in the United States.
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Tesla Cybertruck
According to CEO Elon Musk, the highly awaited pickup truck is likely to arrive near the end of this year, when assembly in Texas is scheduled to begin. Spy images of preproduction models indicate he may meet this aim this time, however much will depend on the completion of the 4,680 battery cells anticipated to power it.
The Cybertruck's unconventional appearance is a result of the stainless steel exterior's stiffness, which prevents its body panels from being pushed into shape—or damaged, as evidenced by a sledgehammer used during its debut presentation. With no paint jobs available due to the material used, the concern is that one Cybertruck would look identical to the next, and customers will eventually tyre of the design. However, refundable deposits of up to one million have apparently been received, indicating that demand looks to be solid.
Currently marketed with a zero-to-60 mph time in just 2.9 seconds and a range of up to 500 miles, it has a bed capacity of 3,500 pounds and the ability to tow over 14,000 pounds. This could change with the development of a quad-motor version, Musk's attempt to take the R1thunder. T's (it, too, would likely feature four-wheel steering).
However, all bets are off when it comes to pricing. Tesla created a stir when it removed the Cybertruck configurator, implying that the base model will no longer start at $39,900 but instead be far more expensive. This may result in the entry model being equipped with dual motors as standard, but it may not be the only change in store for prospective consumers.
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Chevrolet Silverado EV
According to GM's unconfirmed estimations, the Silverado EV is based on a dedicated "Ultium" EV architecture and will give at least 400 miles on a single charge for both the standard workhorse and higher-spec RST trucks. It produces up to 664 horsepower, which enables the car to sprint from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in less than 4.5 seconds. It has a payload capability of 1,300 pounds and a towing capacity of 10,000 pounds, although Chevy is developing a variant that would treble that capacity.
When connected to a 350 kilowatt DC fast charger, the battery pack on the Silverado EV can add 100 miles of range in ten minutes. Additionally, it will be the first Chevy model to use the Ultifi onboard electronics system, which enables over-the-air updates and upgrades, a feature that has become almost mandatory in the wake of Tesla's pioneering success.
The vehicle will debut in spring 2023 with a base workhorse trim priced at $39,900, followed by a higher trim RST packed with additional equipment and creature comforts — and a higher price — in the fall.
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Rivian R1T
The world's first all-electric truck, it also won MotorTrend's 2022 Truck of the Year award, which lauded the startup brand's maiden model as a "monumental achievement."
It presently has an EPA-rated range of 314 miles, but the firm has stated that it plans to increase it to nearly 400 miles later this year. It is equipped with a quad-motor powertrain with all-wheel drive and 800 horsepower that enables the vehicle to sprint from 0 to 60 mph in approximately three seconds and tow up to 11,000 pounds.
Rivian recently announced plans to establish a second factory in Illinois that will be more than double the size of its current facility and capable of producing 400,000 automobiles per year. However, this would involve the assembly of the R1S SUV.
As of mid-December, the company reported that it had manufactured 650 R1T trucks and delivered 384 to customers, but would fall "a few hundred vehicles" short of meeting last year's production target of 1,200 units.
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GMC Hummer EV Pickup
The EV truck, which is now on the market (it made its one and only sale in the fourth quarter), heralds the return of the Hummer badge, which was axed in 2010 due to its exorbitantly low gas mileage.
It was a MotorTrend finalist, but lost to the R1T, because it was built on the same Ultium platform as the Silverado EV. It is most comparable to the Tesla Cybertruck and, to a lesser extent, the R1T, as it is primarily a lifestyle vehicle intended to confer status and make a statement rather than serve as a workhorse.
It features massive 35-inch wheels and highly manoeuvrable four-wheel steering, which enables it to drive diagonally, a feature known as crab-walking that Musk is now attempting to incorporate into the Cybertruck.
Reservations for the launch edition are already sold out, which means buyers will have to wait for the trimotor EV3x model to arrive in the fall, followed by lower-powered models in 2023. The EV3x's range is estimated by GM to be up to 350 miles. Its five-foot cargo bed has a carrying capacity of up to 1,300 pounds, and the truck is capable of towing up to 7,500 pounds.
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Lightning Ford F-150
The F-150 full-size truck, powered by a combustion engine, held its status as the best-selling vehicle in the United States for the 40th consecutive year last year, with 726,004 units delivered in 2021.
Ford's extended range battery pack for the F-150 Lightning, which President Biden personally tested, is rated at 300 miles by the EPA. The vehicle should reach 60 mph from a standstill in approximately 4.5 seconds and have a maximum payload of 2,000 pounds and towing capacity of 10,000 pounds. Manufacturing will begin this spring with a starting price of $39,974 for the entry-level PRO model and swiftly rise to well over $90,000 for the Platinum Lightning.
From today, the first group of 200,000 reservation holders will be able to put solid orders for the vehicle. Ford recently announced that demand for the Lightning was so robust that production capacity would be doubled to 150,000 trucks per year.
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Ram 1500 BEV
The first battery electric car bearing the Ram brand is scheduled to arrive sometime in 2024, parent company Stellantis confirmed in July during a presentation on its EV road plan. The range is estimated to be 500 miles, owing to a battery pack with a capacity of up to 200 kilowatt-hours.
Its electric motors are expected to produce up to 330 kilowatts (443 horsepower), but little else is known about its pricing and specifications, and just the outline of a design has been shown.
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