From Hummer to Tesla: Breaking down the electric truck battle

There’s a pickup war coming, and it’s going to be electric.

Inspired by the success of Tesla’s performance brand, an army of American startups — and one very large legacy automaker — will roll out five battery-powered trucks over the next two years.

Although we’ve seen only prototypes, sketches and teaser photos of the five electric titans — the GMC Hummer EV, Tesla Cybertruck, Rivian R1T, Lordstown Endurance and Bollinger Motors B2 — they look to be big, powerful and defiantly different. And more truck makers may join the battery-power revolution, including an electric F-150 from Ford.

The Tesla Cybertruck that debuted in November is one of five electric pickup trucks scheduled to go on sale in the next two years.

The Tesla Cybertruck that debuted in November is one of five electric pickup trucks scheduled to go on sale in the next two years. (Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu, AP)

Engineers see inherent benefits in battery-powered trucks: Instant torque from batteries makes for strong acceleration and towing ability. And thanks to their “skateboard chassis” architecture that stores batteries in the floor, buckets of storage space are created.

At the same time, truck-size performance requires…

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