> Truck buyers are very conservative in both the political and non-political sense, making them much slower to adapt new technology.
While there is some truth, this is a meme. In places like Texas, truck ownership cuts across many lifestyles. You're as likely to see an attorney or doctor drive an F-150 as opposed to the stereotypical Mercedes. Walk around the parking lot of tech companies in Austin - you'll still see trucks.
> Electric trucks haven't achieved product-market fit quite as well as electric cars have. Long range towing is a weak spot.
Many pickup owners will never tow anything. They may carry weight in their bed, but overall, they're rugged cars capable of non-paved terrain.
For those using their truck for work, the Lightning actually provides some unique advantages over their gas counterparts, powering equipment.
It's very common for truck owners to not tow or haul 95% of the time. But when they do need to, the truck damn well better work.
I asked a couple contractors what they thought about the Lightning, to them it's an expensive toy but nothing that will replace the ability to haul equipment to the next state over and back in the same day, all with 1 gas fillup or less. Time is money for them, and they have no time to sit around waiting for stuff to charge.
EV trucks are immensely heavy, cost 30 to 50 percent more, and have terrible range. Not to mention you have to charge them. You can't make the range better like you can on a EV car by making it more aerodynamic, because towing completely negates that.
Maybe one day we'll get better battery tech or some other dense energy storage.
Does it matter if they never tow anything? People want to be ABLE to tow something. Every truck commercial features giant trails or a loader dumping rocks into the bed. Probably <10% of pick up trucks owners ever do this, but people still like the image of having a truck than can do this.
Those numbers include 3/4 and 1-ton trucks which are used for all kinds of commercial purposes, the might not "tow" but they are still carrying thousands of pounds of work equipment etc.
Just because a truck isn't being used to a tow a trailer 24/7 doesn't mean it's just being used as a 'rugged car'.
I don't think there are any announced plans for an 3/4 or 1 ton electric trucks, so these will be competing with the "overgrown passenger car" class of pickups, not the "miniature big rig" class.
2. Technology doesn’t just mean “electric motors”. Technology also includes suspension, materials science, engine design, towing and hauling, and so on.
Trucks like the RAM TRX and the Raptor are more technologically sophisticated than 99% of the stuff on the road. Try taking a Toyota Tacoma 80MPH over a jump off-road without breaking anything. Try hauling more than a travel trailer through a winter storm with a Rivian. It’ll become instantly clear what technology platform is superior.
2. Truck buyers are very conservative in both the political and non-political sense, making them much slower to adapt new technology.
3. Electric trucks haven't achieved product-market fit quite as well as electric cars have. Long range towing is a weak spot.
4. Electric trucks aren't as well designed as electric cars. The best example, the Lightning, has some issues like charging speed.