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EDITORIAL: Deflating the 1,000-horsepower hype machine

  • Magazine Article
  • 21AUTP04_06
Published April 01, 2021 by SAE International in United States
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  • English
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Great fanfare has been lavished on the growing field of battery-electric pickup trucks that is poised to enter the U.S. market. Everybody and their brother want in. I'm already losing track of the new nameplates that claim to be electric-truck “manufacturers” - a title whose legitimacy can only come from actually making and selling vehicles. How many of the new “OEMs” will end up as flashes in the pan, incinerating their investors' money, is still to be determined.

I'm not optimistic that more than one or two will survive long enough to compete with the incumbents, once a robust, high-volume EV market arrives. Americans love their pickups, but there isn't enough love to sustain more than a few of the newcomers in this hyper-competitive segment.