The world is ready for electric utes and pickup trucks: Ford F-150 leads the charge in new survey

The world isn’t just ready for EV trucks and utes, it’s excited about them, with a new US survey revealing the Ford F-150 EV is ahead of the Hummer, the Rivian R1T and the Tesla Cybertruck on the consideration list. 

Trucks are a Very Big Deal in the USA, with some 2.9m – or almost three times the entire number of new-car sales in Australia – finding homes Stateside last year. 

And manufacturers clearly don’t want the good time to end as the era of combustion engines draws to a close, and so are embracing electrification like never before. 

From auto giants to relative newcomers, EV trucks are set to come thick and fast over the next 18 months.

A new Cox Automotive survey focused on four of the most well-known entrants, and on EV trucks more broadly, and found that two in every five shoppers planning a new pick-up truck purchase would consider an electric powertrain.

If those figures were to hold true, that could see as many as 40 per cent of America’s pick-up truck market – or around 1.16m sales – converted to EV.

The percentage is even higher with younger buyers, with almost 45 percent of 18-34-year-olds confirming they are interested in electric trucks. 

“Our research shows new EV pickup trucks are leading more consumers to consider an EV product,” says Cox Automotive senior manager, Vanessa Ton.

And when it comes to exactly which electric pickup truck is of most interest to buyers, the research shows a clear winner in the Ford F-150. 

In fact, some 75 per cent of people who say they’re in-marker for an EV truck put the Ford F-150 at the top of their list, followed by 48 per cent of people who prefer the Tesla Cybertruck. Hummer and Rivian then tie, with 42 per cent of shoppers each. And no, the numbers don’t add up to 100, as respondents were asked a range of questions which allowed them to effectively nominate more than one truck.

“Tesla and Rivian R1T scored well with younger buyers, and Rivian performed well among female buyers as well” says Ton.

What does that mean for Australia? We know the Tesla Cybertruck is slated for an Australian launch at some point, and the trim at Rivian have also confirmed their trucks will make it Down Under. The Ford F-150 is more of a question mark at this point, as is Hummer.