The battle for the electric pickup truck

Tesla released the very punk electric pickup truck Cyberberuck, and General Motors also confirmed that it would launch a pure electric pickup truck in 2021. Together with Ford and two startups, Bollinger, Rivian and Loadstorn, in the US market, an offensive and defensive battle has been launched for the demand for pickup trucks, which was previously a niche market.

Loadstorn: The company's pre-tax price is $52,500, and it plans to start selling in Q4 2020. It has also acquired General Motors' Lordstown Assembly plant in Ohio. We have already introduced Rivian before, including Rivian's electric pickup truck and commercial vehicle market segments and Rivian's pickup truck battery system. I think this matter has a very strong label of the US domestic market, and these start-ups are targeting the core profit source of US automakers. Pickup trucks are one of the most profitable automotive segments in the world, and General Motors, Ford Motor and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles dominate the US market.

This is also a unique preference in the US market. The three US automakers rely on this market segment to maintain their core profits. So in the face of Tesla's attack in this regard, if Tesla and start-ups really surpass the past, what will traditional automakers do in the future? To this end, several US automakers have their own countermeasures. Ford first plans to sell electric F-series pickup trucks in the second half of 2021, while General Motors announced that the first electric pickup truck model will be available in the fall of 2021.

From the perspective of consumer groups, Tesla's entry into luxury sports cars and pickup trucks actually has a different income group and purchase and leasing ratio in the United States. These traditional American families with an income of $60,000 and $70,000 can still afford electric pickup trucks, but there is a core bottleneck here, which is age. Judging from the user portrait, middle-aged and elderly customers do not have a strong willingness to try.

From a geographical perspective, if electric pickup trucks replace traditional pickup trucks, it will also be a promoting factor in areas where they were previously unable to penetrate.

I think the disadvantages of this new attempt for Tesla are:

Power consumption is not a core consideration. People who buy pickup trucks really don't care about gas money. It is precisely this factor that makes hybrid and plug-in hybrid pickup trucks basically have little development potential. Using pure electric vehicles as a replacement is something that no car company has ever thought of before.

These mild hybrid power systems have an impact on the reliability of the vehicle due to the addition of systems.

Users' demand for durability and emphasis on reliability

Tesla's previous safety rating, sense of technology, and some features that are very suitable for young user groups have not been fully utilized in this regard.

In the vehicle demand list of traditional pickup truck users, Tesla's bulletproof armored glass was even shown off.

Summary: I think the more Tesla and US automakers invest in pickup truck electrification, the more negative impact it will have on the main sedan and SUV markets. Since the battery system requires 120kWh-150kWh, the whole gameplay is different from the 60-90kWh gameplay we have seen.