The physical limitations imposed by the current state of battery technology have hampered the modern electric vehicle renaissance. The range and performance of electric vehicles are limited by inefficiencies in the form of heavy battery packs and low power densities. The emergence of EV pickup and SUVs in the US market is the result of steady improvements in power systems over the past few years.
The Model X exists and is the first pure EV SUV, but the sheer number and variety of new, pure EV pickup and SUV models is staggering compared to just a few years ago. Some of the best of this year have been looked at.
GM will invest $35 billion in self-driving and EV technologies through 2025. The company has announced that it will sell 30 EV models by the end of the year of 2025, and exclusively EV after the year of 2035, with the Hummer EV serving as its flagship model.
The Hummer EV has been a huge hit. By December of last year, more than 10,000 potential buyers had placed down payments on the Hummer Edition 1. Pre-orders for the Hummer EV SUV variant sold out in minutes, which is good news for a vehicle that won't hit the streets until Fall 2023. The Hummer EV pickup will be delivered this month. There have been rumors that the Hummer EV frame and power system could be adapted for military use.
Hummers are only the beginning. The second EV model from GM will be an electric Silverado. We don't know a lot about the EV pickup, that it will use GM's Ultium battery tech, and that it will offer four-wheel steering.
We will have a full accounting of the capabilities of the Silverado once it is official. CNBC reported that GM teased a full-size pickup in July. It is not known if it will use the existing branding or not. We hope to get more hints in the new year.
The Stellantis Group, formerly known as the FCA, announced in July that it will be investing $35 billion towards its electrification efforts through the year 2025. The Ram isn't expected to be released until 2024, but Stellantis is working on an all-electric Ram EV to compete with the Ford F-150 Lightning. Jeep showed off a slick-looking Wrangler BEV concept in March, released its "light hybrid" Wrangler Sahara 4XE in May, and introduced the Cherokee 4XE in September.
The release of the Mustang Mach-E in February was the start of a year that was worthy of Ford's own horn. The EV was met with a bit of apprehension to start, but was able to solidify its position with the release of the GT edition. Through October, Ford had sold more than 21,000 Mach-E units, despite a few recalls for loose bolts and software bugs. The Mach-E is a first-year SUV that is trying to get past deeply ingrained customer nostalgia, but the hype surrounding the F-150 Lightning EV is much more impressive.
The F-150 electrification efforts have been an industry secret, but when Ford unveiled the Lightning on May 19th, America's car-buying public just about lost its mind with nearly 45,000 people signing up to pre-order.
There has been a lot of interest in Ford's upcoming light hybrid Maverick pickup. The Detroit News reported in August that more than 100,000 people had signed up to pre-order the mini-truck, a large portion of which were California residents. Those folks weren't obligated to place a down payment so whether all those pre-orders translate into actual sales, or if they just decide to restomod their existing ICE Fords with the eluminator system, remains to be seen.
Rivian is a startup that made some of the biggest headlines in the EV truck space. Rivian hit its first production milestone despite having to push its initial delivery window from July to September due to the Justice Department fraud investigations. That is the start of it.
This year, the company also announced plans to install 10,000 charging stations across North America by 2023, unveiled a membership plan for owners offering both Roadside and off-Roadside Assistance as well as exclusiveOTA software updates, and outlined its Remote Care program which would offer remote diagnoses and on-site repairs There are big plans for the future of the startup. It is planning to invest $5 billion in a second US plant and is considering the UK as the site for its first international battery facility.
Amazon, which owns a 20 percent stake in Rivian, has already begun making deliveries in San Francisco and Los Angeles with them, but they won't include Ford. Ford invested half a billion dollars in an EV startup two years ago, but decided not to collaborate on an upcoming EV. The electric Lincoln will probably stay dead for a while.
Surprisingly, there is a headline on the other side of the spectrum. The development of its Cybertruck has been slow despite the company's profitable year. The EV SUV will begin volume production in 2022, but it is looking like it will happen later in the year after the F-150 and Hummer EV hit the roads.
The EV game is not the only one that American automakers are involved in. The EQB compact SUV will go on sale in the US next year, Mercedes announced in April. TheSustainer delivery van concept might take a bit longer to reach the market. The Ioniq 5 SUV was unveiled in February by the Korean company, with plans to release it this winter, along with a promise that its Genesis line of vehicles will go entirely electric by the middle of this decade. The Niro EV is a low-key hit.
We have seen a lot of hype and grandiose promises about EV pickup trucks and SUVs over the last few years, but in the year 2022, everything will come out in the wash. Consumers will finally be able to see these vehicles on the streets, in their neighborhoods, and likely breathing down their necks while stuck in traffic, rather than just on a showroom floor or livestream presentation stage. This is a great opportunity for the auto industry to promote the benefits of battery electrics over their internal combustion predecessors.
