Electric pickup trucks will quickly be filling up dealership lots. Rivian’s truck is already on sale, and a larger volume of Hummer EV buyers will soon have their trucks. F-150 Lighting is a few months away, and a Silverado competitor will be here next spring.
The point is, the electric trucks are coming. Even if the truck buyers are the most resistant to adopting an EV in their lives.
Presenting at this year’s J.D. Power Auto Summit in Vegas, Stuwart Stropp, Managing Director of J.D. Power’s Electric Vehicle Consideration Study, pointed out the data showing that the folks most resistant to buying an EV are truck owners.
32% of truck owners, through the survey, are Somewhat Likely to buy an EV. That’s 6 percentage points lower than an owner of a car.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, among the Very Unlikely to consider an EV, truck owners make up a staggering 27%.
So if truck owners aren’t buyers who’d consider an EV, why the focus on EV pickup trucks?
One possibility comes from the simple lack of product. As it turns out, butts in seats sells EVs just like it sells other cars. For folks who have never even been in an electric car, only 7% of survey respondents would consider one.
That number jumps all the way to 20% for individuals who have ridden in not. That’s ride, not ever drive. That’s a big take-away that is extremely important in automakers selling their products.
Reservations of upcoming EV pickup trucks have sold out quickly. Ford has 200,000+ hand-raisers for its Lightning. The demand is there to justify bringing them to market, but for the percentage of EV trucks to grow, the solution is simple.
Put people in vehicles. Dealership ride and drives. Regional events. National activations. It all needs to be part of the marketing plan for EV truck makers to move metal.
Obviously, there are other concerns that’ll be solved as the trucks go on sale. Some truck owners are concerned about towing range performance. Others are worried about performance in suboptimal weather. That’s concerns will be addressed once the public — and outlets like ours — start testing these vehicles.
It’s an exciting time to be into both electric vehicles and pickups, but it’s important to remember that it’s still a big uphill battle.
