EVs are easier to swap out. The chassis, not just the frames, can be swapped out.
The costs of retooling for another model can be in the $200 million area.
Oh hold on, your evidence is a magazine reporter. Yes the end of humanity is here.
What the world needs now is clickbait, yes bait, that’s the thing the world does not have enough…
We had a thread about this somewhere else. I never thought the F-150 EV was an appealing vehicle. It was very expensive and had a dramatic reduction in range when towing–which is one of the main reasons you’d want a vehicle like this. Then you’d likely have to drop the trailer to use the charger.
There is a golden opportunity for a true jobsite EV truck out there. For byzantine fleet fuel economy reasons, you can’t buy a compact/mid-size two-seat truck anymore. You almost can’t buy a compact/mid-size truck. The closest is something like the Hyundai Santa Cruz or Ford Maverick both of which are more car than truck. Both have four doors and beds so short they are almost unusable.
EVs don’t have to meet fleet fuel requirements, so they can make them however they want. I think something like the old Toyota SR5 would be great. Maybe an extra-cab option for more space. A nice five or six foot bed. 12 v power in the bed so you can run your tools. Economical to buy, economical to operate. I think the market is wide open.
I met one person in town who had one of them. Beautiful truck. I asked how far he’d go in it or tow with it or travel with it. Just his car around town. He was very happy.
Strange - It is being relaunched and will carry its own on-board generator around with it 
US car giant Ford has officially ditched its full battery electric ute – the F150 Lightning – and replaced it with a new version that uses an onboard fossil fuel generator to boost its range.
I don’t think an EV pickup is going to be successful, no matter what the range, size, or options.
Most pickups are not garaged, which means “hard to charge” (including sitting around for 20-30 minutes at a public stand.) Contractors can’t afford that, especially when they are driving all over the place giving estimates or checking multiple job sites, and sometimes towing a trailer full of supplies or tools (as towing significantly decreases range.)
It may be that more pickups are sold to weekend warriors than are used in commercial business (don’t know), but without the commercial side it probably wouldn’t be viable trying to shoehorn all the cost structure into that limited (even if large) market.
As for “small pickups”, that seems an even worse idea, as a battery pack takes up more room and is heavier than a gas tank - so you have things working at cross purposes. (One indicator is that VW Buzz, which is the same size as a large family van, but comes with seriously limited range. If they can’t get range into a van, there’s no hope for a small truck, no?)
I think it’s gonna be a while before there’s a mass appeal entrant EV in the truck category. Special applications, maybe, but not a significant segment until the range/charging issue gets a lot better. If Ford is really still pursuing some version of “EV truck” I’d look for another big write down in a couple years.
Sedans & SUVs, that’s where the market is. Hot cars, sleek, efficient, aerodynamic. Nobody wants that?
Sounds like a hybrid…
DB2
I’m buying one of these:
Slate Auto | The Customizable EV That Works for You
Be great as my around town vehicle, I think. And reminds me of my old Hyundai Pony pickup from my youth
F150 electric was a bad idea. Cybertruck same. Narrow use-case. Very expensive for what you get.
The rational was that pickups are very popular, and hence a way to get people into EVs by giving them the type of vehicle they want. Couple that to the fact that most people do not actually use the capabilities of a truck even though they buy a truck, this should have worked.
“I can’t tow with it” … even though they never tow
“I can’t go 1,000 miles on a tank” … even though they need bathroom breaks and meals.
“Range drops when I carry 500 pounds of gravel” … even though they never buy gravel.
In Suburban Austin most of the trucks around me, and there are lots of them, are never used as trucks. They are status symbols, cultivated by careful marketing and advertising. My rural in-laws, different story. They use their trucks, and probably could not make an EV truck actually work for them.
Exactly. They are status symbols.
“I’m a capable guy/gal. I get stuff done. I can haul stuff (never do…). I can tow stuff (never do…). I can go offroad just like in the commercials (never do…)”.
An electric truck just don’t have the same cachet.
Part car. Part truck. Disadvantages of both.
And advantages of both, of course.
In 1987 it was nice to be able to carry two dirtbikes and gear and get 30mpg, but you do you.