The $100,000 Electric Truck Market Has Arrived.

Detroit – Tesla, General Motors, rivian car and ford motor It has created a new market for the American auto industry: expensive, powerful and unreliable electric pickup trucks that sell for more than $100,000.

Just five years ago, the idea of ​​customers paying six figures for a pickup truck (formerly a business vehicle for hauling and towing) would have made national headlines. But that quickly became normalized as automakers sought to increase profits on conventional trucks and make electric trucks profitable.

“Customers are willing to spend money, so automakers are going to give customers that money,” said Stephanie Brinley, senior auto analyst at S&P Global Mobility. “Generally, pickup trucks are getting more equipment, better features and better materials, and that’s really just a reflection of the general consumer mindset of wanting more.”

But unlike a $100,000 conventional pickup truck with an internal combustion engine that offers superior performance compared to its cheaper counterparts, electric trucks are more expensive because of the technology, including the expensive batteries needed to power the vehicles.

“When you think about who is actually buying these new EVs, there’s definitely a different demographic for (automakers),” said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of industry insights at Cox Automotive. “These are very expensive, very niche vehicles.”

There are currently a handful of electric trucks available in the U.S. market, including the Tesla Cybertruck, Ford F-150 Lightning, and Rivian R1T. General Motors’ The GMC Hummer EV, GMC Sierra Denali and Chevrolet Silverado. The GMC Hummer and Rivian also have SUV versions, which offer similar features to the pickup trucks but in a different form factor.

All of these vehicles could easily cost close to or exceed $100,000, with Tesla’s “Cyberbeast” model costing around $120,000 and the limited-edition GMC Hummer costing more than $150,000. Kelley Blue Book reported that both vehicles sold for more than $100,000 last month, making the Tesla Cybertruck the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. with a six-figure price tag.

That compares to the average price of a traditional full-size pickup truck, $65,713, including an average rebate of 7 percent, according to Kelley Blue Book.

The electric “truck” market, which includes SUVs, totaled about 58,000 vehicles sold in the first half of this year, according to estimates from Motor Intelligence. That’s less than 1% of the roughly 7.9 million light-duty new vehicles sold in the U.S. during that period, but the data shows a 35% quarter-over-quarter increase from the first quarter to the second.

The market is expected to continue to grow, but so far I have driven a variety of $100,000 vehicles at different times. They all drive and handle well, but in different ways. Here are some thoughts on each:

The Tesla Cybertruck is unrivaled in every way: design, functionality, polarization, and features.

It’s much more “cyber” than “truck.” It actually has truck features, like a pickup bed and other practical features, but it’s not a truck in the traditional sense.

The Cybertruck features a rigid steering with yoke and “steer-by-wire” system, a rigid chassis similar to a sports car, and a design that focuses more on form than function, which is arbitrarily one of the biggest reasons to buy a pickup truck.

Like its GM competitors, the Cybertruck features “four-wheel steering,” which allows all wheels on the vehicle to turn. Compared to traditional vehicles that turn on just two wheels, this makes the large vehicle much easier to steer.

What the Tesla Cybertruck lacks in traditional “truck-like” characteristics, it makes up for with technologies like the human-machine interface (HMI) between the driver and the vehicle.

The vehicle was in many ways an experiment in the company’s technology.

• merit: Design, technology, software, weight (lowest in segment), four-wheel steering
• disadvantage: Design, bed accessibility, interior space and quality

The GMC Hummer EV, the first electric truck to hit the market, is most similar to the Cybertruck in terms of performance, price, and overall flashiness.

Driving a vehicle, whether on or off-road, is an experience. GM calls it the world’s first “supertruck.” It’s fast, big, and, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the least efficient consumer EV on the market today. The SUV version is smaller and easier to drive than the pickup truck version.

Both Hummer models bear the weight of GM’s rapid vehicle development: the pickup is estimated to weigh about 9,200 pounds, which is heavy compared to any other consumer vehicle on the market today, including all electric truck counterparts.

The Hummer EV can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in under 3.5 seconds and has impressive performance components, but that can easily add to the vehicle’s weight. I felt it while driving.

GM designers have done a great job of modernizing the Hummer’s exterior design for the new EV, including the ability to remove the roof panel. But the interior, like the vehicle itself, can feel very bulky.

• merit: Design, performance, durability, four-wheel steering, hands-free Super Cruise advanced driver assistance system
• disadvantage: Design, efficiency, bulky interior, range

GM’s latest electric pickups are the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra Devastator, both of which offer luxury models priced at well over $100,000.

GM’s design team has done a great job of separating the exterior appearance of the vehicles to appeal to each brand, but most of the vehicle’s parts and functions are the same.

Both vehicles have an EPA-rated range of 440 miles and deliver up to 754 horsepower and 785 pound-feet of torque. Importantly for many truck customers, they can tow up to 10,000 pounds and recharge 100 miles in about 10 minutes with a DC fast charger (if you can find a compatible charger).

The Sierra is more refined and upscale than the Chevrolet, with open-pore wood, a larger full-screen display, GMC’s “Crab Mode” with four-wheel steering shared with the Hummer, and other features.

A unique and standout feature of the Silverado and Sierra EV compared to other vehicles is the “midgate” feature, which allows the vehicles’ rear seats to be folded down and the rear window to create a truck bed nearly 11 feet long and best-in-class cargo space.

Both the Silverado and Sierra EVs drive well and have a “truck-like” feel, but they’re significantly heavier than their non-GM competitors.

• merit: Performance, charging speed, range, super cruise, midgate, 4-wheel steering
• disadvantage: Efficiency, interior (mainly Silverado), weight

Rivian’s flagship models, the R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV, remain prominent in the electric truck segment, following the likes of Jeep in the outdoor adventure and lifestyle vehicle segments.

The second generation vehicle, which was released earlier this year, has improved the truck’s ride quality and quality. The R1S’s driving experience is noticeably smoother than the first generation vehicle.

The car’s exterior design hasn’t changed much from the second generation, but Rivian says it packs 10 times more computing power than its predecessor. The company has also changed more than half of its hardware components.

Where the R1T and R1S really stand out is in their interior design. Like Tesla products, it’s minimalist, but still has enough other controls to satisfy mainstream, traditional buyers. The functionality and HMI are also impressive.

• merit: Design, Software, Interior
• disadvantage: No charging speed function, no four-wheel steering, advanced driver assistance systems

The F-150 Lightning is the most accessible electric truck on the market. That includes its starting price of about $63,000, its driving dynamics, and its features. It operates almost like a traditional F-150, but it’s electric. It shares many of its internal combustion engine sibling’s parts.

When the F-150 Lightning hit the market, it was the first “mainstream” electric truck. It followed in the footsteps of the Hummer “supertruck” and the Rivian R1T, but it was the first true test of such a purely electric vehicle for traditional truck owners.

While this vehicle was a standout when it was released, its competitors have caught up to it or surpassed it in terms of range, driving dynamics, and overall performance, especially when compared to the $100,000 trucks listed above.

At over $90,000, the F-150 Lightning is still a solid vehicle, but for buyers looking to spend more than $100,000, there’s a lot more competition now than when the truck was introduced in 2022.