The market segment for electric pickups is heating up in the new model year.
GMC began shipping its first all-electric pickup, the Hummer EV, to consumers late last year. And it expects to offer an electrified version of the Sierra as well sometime in 2022 as a 2023 model. Meanwhile, corporate cousin Chevrolet is adding a battery-powered version of its Silverado pickup is expected to reach showrooms in 2023 aa 2024 model.
Ford is hot on this market as well, with about 200,000 orders in hand for its new F-150 Lightning opening this month, with production slated to begin in the spring. And reports suggest that Stellantis will offer a battery-electric Ram 1500 in 2024.
Meanwhile, the 2022 Toyota Tundra i-Force Max is beginning to reach showrooms, the company’s first full-size hybrid-electric pickup, joining the Ram 1500, Ford F-150 and Maverick pickups in the hybrid pickup space.
And that’s just the start; there are any number of startup EV manufacturers with eyes on the same market, particularly Rivian.
Rivian ramps up R1T production
Automotive News reports Rivian is increasing production of its R1T pickup to nearly 200 units a week, up from 50 units a week as recently as December. The ramp-up comes as the neophyte automaker has worked through production snafus at its plant in Normal, Illinois due to COVID-19 outbreaks at the plant and supply-chain bottlenecks. The company ended 2021 producing 920 R1Ts, not the 1,020 forecast. The slowdown comes as Rivian attempts to put its R1S SUVs into production on the same assembly line.
Still, the company will not be producing its new pickup with the Max pack long-range battery pack until 2023. Until then, buyers will have to be content with a lithium-ion pack capable of delivering an EPA-estimated 314 miles between charges.
Rivian also is expected to begin fulfilling Amazon’s order for 10,000 all-electric delivery vans, which are to be built on a separate assembly line. In all, Rivian’s annual production capacity is expected to reach 150,000 units by 2023. In addition, Rivian announced last month that it is building a $5 billion plant outside of Atlanta capable of building 400,000 vehicles annually, with production expected to begin in 2024.
But investors remain confident in Rivian, if only because its trucks are more akin to the gas-powered pickups consumers currently drive.
Troubles at Tesla
Meanwhile, Rivian rival Tesla continues to face delays with its much-ballyhooed Cybertruck. Now, the truck will not begin production for another year due to last-minute updates designed to keep the truck competitive with the influx of new battery-electric pickups that are already on the road or set to arrive this year.
“There’s a lot of new technology in the Cybertruck that will take some time to work through,” said Tesla CEO Elon Musk during the company’s full-year earnings call Wednesday night.
“And then there’s a question of like what’s the average cost of a Cybertruck? And to what degree is that affordable? You know, there’s you can make something infinitely desirable. But if it’s not affordable, that will constrain people’s ability to buy it because they simply don’t have the money.”
The delay in Cybertruck deliveries is now two years after the “late 2021” arrival date first promised by Musk, and four years after it was first shown to the public. But Musk has a habit of missing forecast production start dates.
Given the extreme delays, and the increasing number of electrified pickups hitting the market, it remains to be seen how many of the reportedly more than 250,000 customers with Cybertruck reservation holders will stay with Tesla.
Market for EVs accelerating quickly
The new models arrive as sales of electrified vehicles is expanding at a rapid pace, according to Cox Automotive.
The company reports that 1,456,867 electrified vehicles last year, or 9.7% of the market, up from 5.4% in 2020. That’s an 85.9% increase from 2020, when 783,477 electrified vehicles were sold. Of those, 487,460 were EVs, with HEVs and PHEVs accounting for the remaining 969,407 units.
And the pace quickened at the end of last year, with electrified vehicles grabbing as much as 11.8% of the market in the fourth quarter of 2021, with EVs accounting for 4.5% of sales during that period — a new record.
Who owns the EV market?
Yet Tesla remains the dominant EV player, with a 72% share of the EV market, although that’s down from nearly 80% in 2020. Significantly, the company delivered 71% year-over-year growth in a year where COVID-19 outbreaks and supply-chain issues hobbled other automakers.
In fact, Tesla isn’t just dominating the EV market, it’s dominating the luxury vehicle market as well outselling Audi, BMW, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz in the U.S. market, according to Cox.
Meanwhile, with sales of hybrid vehicles jumping 84% year over year in 2021, Toyota remains the dominate producer, retailing more than half of the nearly 1 million vehicles sold last year. Now, a quarter of Toyota’s U.S. sales are hybrids, with EVs expected to be added next year.
But obstacles remain
Cox Automotive’s report finds that consumers still find EVs are too expensive. Also, EV intenders continue to have concerns about range and charging availability. But consider that nearly half a million car buyers purchased an EV last year despite these obstacles, the market will continue to grow this year, as more than a dozen new models are forecast to come onstream, including pickups.
