A rundown of 8 upcoming electric-truck plans (and where they stand right now)

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A new chapter has been cracked open for the pickup truck segment, and it’s showing up in the form of a whole lotta batteries. It’s a huge push for a market that’s generally steeped in tradition, packed with customers who know what they like and tend to stick with it. We don’t expect internally-combusted pickup trucks to evaporate overnight but, with the vehicles listed below, the slow march has absolutely begun.

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Following the bombastic unveiling of the new Ford F-150 Lightning earlier this month, we thought it a good time to take a look at which companies have plans for an EV with a bed and – more importantly – where they currently stand in terms of availability and estimated production dates. Those schedules don’t always align, of course, like how your author has been saying he’s been going to fix that piece of trim in the basement for over two years now and it’s still hanging askew.

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A rundown of 8 upcoming electric-truck plans (and where they stand right now) Back to video

Are there any vehicular equivalents in the all-electric pickup truck segment which can be compared to that cock-eyed piece of basement trim in terms of promises versus reality? Let’s take a look.

Ford F-150 Lightning

This is list was spurred, of course, by the introduction of an F-150 Lightning that looked production-ready in every sense of the word. With an actual example of the truck rolling out on stage next to Ford brass, along with any number of testing mules that have been spied to date, it sure seems that the Blue Oval made sure its ducks were in a row before pulling back the curtain.

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As for timing, customers can currently plop down $100 for the privilege of securing a spot in line to configure and order a truck this autumn, with shipments expected to begin in early 2022.

Rivian R1T

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The CEO of Rivian tweeted a picture on May 14 showing racks upon racks of Rivian R1T body panels lined up side-by-each in an industrial facility. This marks a big moment in the company’s journey to production, since this is one of the few peeks we’ve gotten behind the scenes to see just how far along the startup company really is in its quest to produce an all-electric pickup.

According to its website, they are promising deliveries of top-tier Launch Edition trucks in June 2021, a date that is, well, very soon. The CEO’s tweeted image suggests they may just hit that target.

GMC Hummer EV Truck

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The crew at Driving were the first to break news that GMC’s new Hummer EV would bend the earth at an eye-popping 9,046 pounds (the portion of the GM website which revealed that information has since vanished, by the way).

South of the border, American customers who reserved an Edition 1 model have been promised their vehicles in autumn 2021, with less-powerful variants to begin appearing a year later. As for Canada, initial availability is slated for fall 2022. The least expensive version, called the EV ² , is not scheduled to hit dealer lots until early 2024.

Tesla Cybertruck

The will-it-really-look-like-that Cybertruck was revealed way back in November 2019, with Elon Musk posturing that first copies of top-tier models would appear late in the 2021 calendar year.

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The company website is still estimating that date for tri-motor all-wheel-drive versions of the truck, despite radio silence from Tesla on firm production details. It’s unclear if the Cybertruck that Musk crashed into a bollard outside a fancy California restaurant is the same one that appeared on stage in 2019.

Chevrolet Silverado / GMC Sierra EV

Not much is known about this all-electric duo, other than they have a place in the upcoming product pipeline, and no official timeline has been released by the company. General Motors has said the trucks will be assembled in the same factory as the Hummer EV , and will utilize the company’s Ultium battery packs. Our estimate? Expect to see production-ready copies in 2023 or 2024.

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Ram 1500 EV

The people at Ram are presently busy stuffing Hellcat engines in everything and rocking out to Motley Crüe instead of engineering an all-electric pickup truck. We’re joking, of course (but only just). There has been no official word on a battery-powered vehicle from Auburn Hills.

Bollinger B2

The looks-like-a-box Bollinger twins have been floating around the internet for more than a couple of years now, long enough for the company to announce design adjustments based on what the company describes as breakthroughs in ‘thermal management’.

Another huge change? The bed is now independent of the cab. What this means for the truck’s much-touted ability to open an uninterrupted cargo area from stem to stern remains unclear. As for production dates, the Bollinger website still promises that production will start in late 2021.

Lordstown Endurance

The company that held a product launch which quickly turned into a rally for the re-election campaign of Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed back its release date for the all-electric Endurance pickup truck. The commitment of ‘late 2020’ came and went, as did the month of January 2021.

The latest estimate is September 2021 as a delivery date for some fleet reservations, with full production ramping up throughout 2022. As an aside, Lordstown stock price sank over 15 per cent the day after Ford rolled out the F-150 Lightning.