During an unofficial Tesla Motors podcast titled Ride the Lightning, Elon Musk confirmed the specs and the price of the upcoming Tesla Pickup truck. The CEO revealed that the Tesla Pickup truck will target the Ford F150, which is one of the most popular vehicles in the USA. During the podcast, Elon Musk also talked about the challenges he faced during the initial days of the company.
Tesla Pickup Will Feature 500 Mile Range And $50,000 Base Price
According to Musk, the design of the upcoming Tesla Truck will be futuristic. It is unlikely to share design language with any of the current breed of pickup trucks like Dodge RAM, Chevy Silverado, and Ford F150.
Since it will be a Tesla-made pickup, consumers can expect all the standard things the company is famous for. Top-notch safety features, efficient Drag-coefficient, low center of gravity and self-driving will likely make an appearance on the Tesla Pickup truck.
The Tesla Pickup will look like a truck 20 years from now, says Musk. Along with the futuristic design, the Tesla Pickup truck will feature an optional high battery range along with an all-wheel electric motor. Furthermore, in order to appeal to hardcore fans of the pickup trucks, it will feature “300,000 pounds of towing capacity”.
For comparison, the towing capacity of all conventional pickup trucks like the Ford F150 lies in the range of 10,000 to 15,000 pounds.
What’s interesting, though, is the price tag of the Tesla Pickup. Elon Musk said that in order to penetrate the pickup truck segment, he will competitively price the Tesla Pickup truck under $50,000. This will be the price of the base model and it will open gates for conventional pickup truck owners and electric car enthusiasts to try something new.
An electric truck is different than an electric car in terms of torque, battery range and overall size and weight. Since there’s a lot of room in a pickup truck for battery installation, so don’t be surprised if the base model of the Tesla Pickup truck comes with a 400 or 450-mile range.
Tesla Pickup Truck Competition: Specs, Price and Release Date
The current Ford F150 King Ranch with a price tag of around $52,000 is the main target of the Tesla Pickup truck. The Ford truck is powered by a 5.0L Ti-VCT engine which produces 395HP and 400ft-lb of torque. The Tesla Truck is expected to rival the Ford F150 in terms of horsepower and surpass it in terms of torque. Being an electric motor, the Tesla Pickup truck will have immediate and constant acceleration as compared to a linear climb.
Another area where the Tesla pickup could take over a Ford F150 would be in terms of mileage. The F150 King Ranch has a claimed fuel economy of 19MPG in the city and 25MPG on the highway. If the Tesla truck can manage a battery range of around 450 miles per hour, then it’d be more than enough for several users.
However, Ford isn’t just sitting around waiting for a market takeover from Tesla. The company has invested a huge amount of money into Rivian, an electric car startup, to electrify the Ford F150.
The partnership between Ford and Rivian is of $500 million, so consumers can expect a competitive electric vehicle from it. Furthermore, Ford is also intensively researching its self-driving venture known as Argo AI, potentially to compete with Tesla’s Driver Assist Function.
Whatever might be the case, the growth of Tesla has been a big push for R&D in electric cars in the overall automotive market. So far, Elon Musk has only been able to capture the personal vehicle market with his Tesla cars. However, with the arrival of the Tesla Pickup truck and the Tesla Semi, a huge chunk of the commercial driving sector is ready to fall into Tesla’s lap.
