Americans Increasingly Skeptical of Electric Trucks: Survey

More battery-electric trucks are coming, but Americans are less enthusiastic about the prospect than they were at this time last year a new survey from Autolist, an online car buying and selling platform, revealed.

The company’s annual Electric Trucks Survey showed that the lack of enthusiasm is linked to dwindling intent to reserve or purchase a new battery-electric model.

Autolist surveyed customers asking how they viewed battery-electric trucks versus those with internal combustion engines. The percentage of respondents who indicated that electric trucks were less appealing than their gasoline-powered counterparts rose from 32 percent in 2022 to 39 percent in 2023.

Conversely, the percentage of people who found the EVs ‘more appealing’ dropped to 22 percent from 29 percent.

Elon Musk discusses vehicle dimensions in front of the newly unveiled all-electric battery-powered Tesla Cybertruck at Tesla Design Center in Hawthorne, California on November 21, 2019. Musk unveiled the Cybertruck’s design in 2019, but the electric pick-up truck has been beset by delays.
Frederic J. BROWN/AFP

This is despite the influx of on-sale and promised electric pickup truck models from brands including Rivian, Ford, Chevrolet, GMC and Tesla. Brands like Kia, Chevrolet and Mercedes-Benz are also adding all-electric SUVs to their electrified vehicles lineup.

Despite the new offerings, fewer Autolist survey respondents indicated earlier this year in the company’s general electric vehicle (EV) survey that they saw themselves owning an EV in the future than they did in 2022.

Recent promised changes to EV charging infrastructure, restructured EV purchase incentives and vehicle price decreases will influence next year’s survey results more than this year’s.

Americans remain skeptical of EVs. Though sales are up in 2023 versus 2022, the pace of sales growth has slowed significantly. Most EVs on the market today, especially electric trucks, are priced in luxury vehicle territory and many automakers continue to lose money on the EVs they produce.

The Rivian R1T electric pickup Truck. It beat Ford, Chevy and Ram’s electric trucks to the market.
Rivian

Autolist rounded out their survey by asking respondents to choose their top model from a list of hypothetical contenders, including models that haven’t been promised to come to market. After two years at the top of the list, the Ford F-150 Lightning fell from its pedestal.

An electric version of the Toyota Tacoma took top honors with 24 percent of the vote and was the top pick for current pickup truck owners and those who have never owned a truck.

Toyota has confirmed that an electric pickup truck will be built, but specific model information has not been publicly released.

“Anytime we run a survey about electrification of any kind, Toyota consistently comes out on top as the greenest brand in the eyes of consumers,” said Corey Lydstone, founder and CEO of Autolist. “That goodwill is clearly translating into high expectations for the brand’s all-electric pickup, no matter what form it takes.”

Ford is expected to reveal a new version of its F-150 Lightning in the coming years and updates to the current generation of the model may come courtesy of the generational revision of its F-150 gasoline-powered counterpart.

Among current EV owners, their top pick for their hypothetical new electric pickup truck is the Tesla Cybertruck, which garnered 26 percent of their votes. A prospective Toyota EV came in second place amongst that group at 24 percent.

The Cybertruck was also the top pick of Gen Z intenders with Toyota taking the crown among every other age group.