The Future of the Electric Pickup Has Been Drawn Up

The electric pickup still doesn’t exist, but it is coming and it’s coming soon. General Motors GM is expected to be among the first automakers to offer an electric pickup later this year, along with EV start-ups such as Rivian and Lordstown Motors RIDE, followed by Tesla Inc TSLA and Ford Motor F next year. Stellantis STLA confirmed at the beginning of July it will offer an electric RAM pickup by 2024 as it revealed its roadmap towards the electric future of Ram, Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler which will be built on four platforms. And Apple Inc. AAPL plans to launch an EV in 2024. Last but not least, there is Worksport WKSP whose solar-powered fusion can change the rules of the electric pickup game entirely.

GM

On Monday, GM confirmed its third electric pickup from its $35 billion EV and autonomous vehicles strategy. Unlike the upcoming GMC Hummer EV that is a lifestyle vehicle, the GMC full-size electric pickup is expected to be more of a traditional pickup. The electric Hummer is scheduled to begin deliveries later this year and it is priced between $80,000 and $111,000. The electric Chevrolet Silverado was confirmed in April and will be built in the company’s Factory ZERO assembly plant in Detroit.

These three electric pickups are part of the Detroit automaker’s EV plan to release 30 new models across the globe by 2025 and sell at least 1 million EVs annually as it transitions to become a fully electric automaker by 2035.

Stellantis

On Tuesday, the world’s fourth largest automaker revealed that Amazon.com’s AMZN Alexa Automotive's Ted Curic would become its new chief technology officer. But Stellantis’ EV future revolves around “STLA” which is pronounced Stella. From smallest to largest, the company developed four platforms, the names of which identify the kinds of future EVs that are to be developed. STLA Small will handle "efficient city mobility” or in other words smart and more affordable vehicles. STLA Medium is focused at the "premium vehicles." STLA Large will rise to the autonomous challenge of "all-wheel drive performance and American muscle” and give birth to the teased electric muscle car from Dodge. Finally, STLA Frame will host future body-on-frame vehicles, such as the confirmed battery-electric Ram 1500 pickup truck that is scheduled for 2024.  In simple words, Stellantis’ EV plan consists of four new EV platforms and five gigafactories along with a roadmap to deliver class-leading EVs in every segment.

Worksport

You cannot speak of pickups, in both traditional and electric form, and leave Worksport WKSP out of the conversation. Its TerraVis Solar truck bed cover is designed to capture rays from the sun, store this solar energy in a battery and use it to supply electricity to the truck for multiple purposes. It can be used to power anything from lights to tools as well as supplement the power to the truck’s drive train to extend its driving range. But Worksport’s star product is the TerraVis solar fusion which contains both the solar-powered tonneau cover and TerraVis COR, its standalone extension that offers remote power to non-pickup drivers as well, allowing the company to tap into a wider consumer market.

Under its two-year partnership with Ontario Tech University, Worksport will finish fine-tuning and validating the TerraVis prototype for prelaunch by the end of the year, to accelerate towards full manufacturing next year. In simple words, Worksport will be all set to power many automakers step into an all-electric future.

Electrification is a journey like no other

As Stellantis’ CEO Carlos Tavares described the current state of the auto industry, a new race is on the horizon and with it, an opportunity to reset the clock. What all automakers love is to race and compete and it seems everyone, from traditional to futuristic automakers, big and small, is in the "full execution mode”. This race is bound to bring an unprecedented change and result in an entirely different energy matrix of the transport and automotive industry.