Fired-up Tesla, Ford go wheel-to-wheel on electric truck challenge
Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk plainly says his pickup is a “better truck than an F-150.” Ford Motor Co. is taking issue with that claim.
While releasing a series of specs last week for Cybertruck, which is scheduled to start deliveries as soon as late 2021, Musk called up a video of the pickup in a tug-of-war against Ford’s best-selling F-150.
He tweeted a clip of the test on Sunday showing his vehicle pulling a screeching Ford model up a hill. Ford thinks Musk was making an apples-to-oranges comparison.
The video the Tesla chief executive tweeted appears to show a two-wheel drive version of the F-150 against an all-wheel drive Cybertruck. Other details that could have factored in which pickup won out include curb weight and tire type.
Sundeep Madra, vice-president of Ford X, the automaker’s unit for developing new business models, challenged Musk on Monday to send Ford a Cybertruck.
He linked to a post by the car-enthusiast site motor1.com that questioned whether Tesla’s test was “fair game.”
Musk responded to Madra: “Bring it on.”
Tesla and Ford have been at this before.
More than a year after Musk tweeted a boast about how much weight Tesla’s truck would be able to tow, Ford released a promotional video of an electric F-150 prototype dragging more than one million pounds of double-decker rail cars.
The Cybertruck has ignited a frenzy over electric pickups, and at least seven other U.S. automakers expect to build new battery-powered trucks by 2021. The question is who will buy them.
Companies ranging from General Motors Co to startup Lordstown Motors Corp have said they plan to introduce electric pickups over the next two years, and are scheduled to build up to 250,000 a year by 2024, according to industry analysts.
Sales of those battery trucks, however, may not exceed 70,000 a year, even when many of the plants hit full production, according to AutoForecast Solutions analyst Sam Fiorani.
If demand falls that far short of production targets, “there are going to be a lot of auto execs crying in their beer,” predicts IHS Markit analyst Joe Langley.
Musk indicated on Twitter that Tesla has received 200,000 reservations, requiring US$100 deposits, within 72 hours after unveiling its Cybertruck, and plans to build up to 50,000 a year.
The wedge-shaped pickup is expected to go into production in late 2021, and to start selling for a price of just under US$40,000.
The total U.S. market for conventional pickups powered by internal combustion engines is just over three million.
Many of the EV pickups are being touted by newcomers, including Bollinger Motors and Hercules Electric Vehicles, both based in the Detroit area, and Atlis Motor Vehicles, in Mesa, Ariz.
Projected prices range from US$45,000 to US$125,000.
Lordstown Motors has a licensing deal with Ohio-based Workhorse to build an electric pickup called Endurance at GM’s former assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio. Lordstown executives have said they plan to start production in late 2020, with prices starting at US$52,500.
Perhaps the most important new electric pickup is the R1T from well-funded newcomer Rivian, the Michigan startup that includes Ford Motor Co and Amazon.com Inc among its investors.
The R1T is slated to go into production late next year at a former Mitsubishi Motors plant in Normal, Ill., and will be priced from US$69,000.
In its first full year of production, Rivian plans to build about 25,000 pickups, but is installing capacity to build up to 260,000 vehicles, including a companion electric SUV and an electric delivery van for Amazon.
GM and Ford both expect to begin building premium electric pickups in late 2021 at Detroit-area assembly plants. Each company expects annual electric truck production to hit around 40,000 by 2024, analysts said.