- So I've been all electric
since January of 2018
with two Teslas, a Model S and a Model 3.
But, as you can see, I
also have my old '99 Tacoma
behind me because I have a
house and I go on surf trips
and it's just much more convenient.
Now we don't have many good options yet
for an electric truck,
but there are a lot coming out soon.
So I thought we could just have a look now
at what we know and what's rumored
and what's upcoming in
the electric truck space
to see which one is actually the best.
Let's go.
(upbeat music)
Trucks outsell every other type of vehicle
in the U.S. by far and
have done so since 2013.
In 2018, light trucks
outsold cars two-to-one
in the U.S. with just
under 12 million sold
and a gap that appears to
be widening between the two.
Of those, the Ford F-Series is
by far the most selling truck
in the U.S.A. with over
900 thousand sold in 2018.
Which is nearly double the
next best-selling truck,
the Chevy Silverado.
So, the Ford F-Series is
clearly the target for Tesla
and when they make a
vehicle in a new category,
they don't just make a practical one,
they come out swinging.
Remember the Semi?
They could've made a simple,
small delivery van, but no,
they came out with a class-a truck,
capable of towing more than
any other vehicle on the road.
And even the Model S,
the first sedan that they came out with,
became a best-selling luxury sedan
due to its incredible features.
So, that's why I think it makes sense here
to look at the F-150.
It is essentially the
gold standard in trucks
sold in the United States.
But there's also Rivian, who
already is taking reservations
and just recently raised
700 million dollars
in funding led by Amazon.
So, we kind of have
a Bezos versus Musk thing going on here.
But, in reality, it's everyone
versus Ford in this space.
Even Chevy is miles behind them
when it comes to their
annual sales volume.
So, let's see how these three
different trucks stack up.
First, let's see Rivian
since we have actual
specs released by them.
The Rivian R1T comes in
with a 400 mile range,
11 thousand pounds of towing capacity,
a 1,763 pound payload,
and support for 160 kilowatt
charging via the CCS port.
This is a pretty impressive
truck out of the gate,
one that certainly impressed me
and many other people in the media.
They report 750 horsepower,
which is impressive,
and 14 thousand newton meters of torque,
which I'm not sure what
that will actually be
when they convert it into the pound feet
we're typically using
when comparing automobiles
because we don't know the exact gear ratio
which we need to actually convert that.
They have some really cool features here
with the gear tunnel, a really big frunk,
the fold-down rear gate,
built-in air compressors,
and power outlets in the bed.
They're taking deliveries
now with arrivals expected
to be late next year in 2020.
And now, let's see how that
stacks up to the F-150.
The thing about the F-150 is
there are so many different trim options
that it's really difficult
to just nail it down.
So, what I'm kind of looking at here
is the max specs from them.
So, we start out with 450 horsepower
and 410 pound feet of towing.
That's a 12 thousand pound towing capacity
with a three thousand pound payload.
Pretty impressive.
Now, the price range, again,
because there are so many options,
go all the way from 28
thousand up to 67 thousand
before adding any of the
additional options you can get.
And we typically don't talk
about range of gas cars,
because they can fill
up essentially anywhere,
but this one, when calculating it out,
comes out to about 570
miles on a single tank,
which is pretty good.
And F-150 also has some
really cool features,
such as a driver-assist program
similar to Tesla's
auto-pilot, backup assist,
which is great when you have a trailer
and you're trying to weave maybe a boat
into a specific area, in-vehicle wifi,
which lets you connect to up to 10 devices
to the 4G LTE signal, Alexa
integration and Waze integration
with the navigation system.
Now, of course, you can buy this now
and get it within days or
weeks, depending on your area.
And lastly, let's bring in Tesla.
Now, before I go further with
the specs that we have here,
just a caveat that all
of these were collected
from either tweets directly from Elon
or statements he's made in interviews.
Tesla hasn't officially
unveiled any of this stuff.
So, a lot of these things may change.
So, just take some of
these with a grain of salt.
So, starting out, Elon has
stated that the Tesla truck
will have a 400 to 500
mile range maybe more.
With a towing capacity
of 300 thousand pounds,
which is one of those
things that you may question
until you remember the
video of a Tesla Model X
pulling a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
So, this actually could happen.
Elon has also said it will be a big truck
which means it will likely
compete directly with the F-150
or one of the more heavy-duty vehicles
used on construction sites.
It's unclear what the
price is for this vehicle,
but likely, because it's Tesla
and because of these specs,
it's gonna be very expensive.
Elon has said it will be a six seater,
it will be a dual-motor
all-wheel drive vehicle,
which kind of makes sense,
and it will have 250 volt
connections in the bed
for heavy-duty tools, along
with an air compressor.
We're hoping to see an
unveiling this summer,
but it's really unclear
when that will happen
nor do we have any idea when
they'll start to deliver them.
The earliest they could
really possibly hope
to get these in people's
hands is late 2020,
which does match up with Rivian
and I think would be a good
target for them to shoot for.
So, when you compare these three,
it definitely looks like Tesla and Rivian
have a big hill to climb here.
The F-150 not only has amazing specs
and really cool features already built-in,
it has been the best-selling
truck for a long time.
So, you have a really
strong brand loyalty there,
just like Tesla and others do as well.
And that isn't to mention
that Ford themselves
are reportedly working on an
electric version of the F-150.
We won't likely be able
to see that, however,
until late 2020 when the
overall model, the F-Series,
gets an updated design.
But, what it really
comes down to, I think,
for any of these options to succeed,
is the availability of a
strong charging network.
Tesla obviously has the advantage here
with the Supercharger network
now covering large chunks
of the U.S. and over 12 thousand
Superchargers world-wide,
that which includes Europe and Asia.
Plus, many more on the way,
likely to double that
amount in 2019 alone.
But, there are others out there as well.
Specifically, one to look
out for is Electrify America.
Electrify America is a charging network
that's popping up all
over the U.S. recently
and has a 10-year plan to
invest over two billion dollars
in EV infrastructure
and education programs
in the United States.
They offer fast charging stations
and are continually
expanding their network
across the country.
And there are other
charging networks out there,
such as EVgo, which already
have a decent infrastructure
in popular cities with
fast charging systems
that will rival Tesla's, however,
the overall number of them
is substantially lower than
the Supercharger network.
So, while Tesla clearly has the advantage
on the charging network now,
it's one that I don't think will really be
that big of a deal going forward
as these other networks start to build up
their infrastructure.
So, if Tesla wants to win here,
they need to offer a compelling vehicle,
which is kind of a no-brainer,
we know they'll do that,
but it also needs to come
in at an affordable price.
That's more difficult to do
because of the sheer cost
of the batteries needed in
a bigger vehicle like this.
And they need to deliver it on time,
which, admittedly, is
not their strong-suit.
And if Rivian wants to win in this space,
they should look for a good partner
and team up with some of
these other big companies
to fill in the gaps in their offering,
notably, the charging network.
Then, keep pushing hard to
deliver these trucks on time.
And, of course with Ford,
if they're able to deliver
a compelling electric F-150
and partner with some of these
bigger charging networks,
or just flat-out buy them,
I think they could continue
their dominance in this space.
Which might actually be
a reasonable outcome,
considering their recent,
radical shift away
from making cheap sedans and
focusing on SUVs and trucks.
But, their biggest
challenge by far, I believe,
will be having enough batteries
that are of high enough quality
to power these new trucks.
So, who has the best shot
at winning this race?
It's hard to say.
Tesla I think has some
advantages with the brand loyalty
and the Supercharger
network but their inability
to get things out on time
could really, kind of, put them behind.
Ford with their vast resources
and legacy in this space,
do, I think, have a strong advantage.
But, need the ability
to get the batteries in
and make all that happen.
Which, as we have seen from
other major auto-makers,
is not really a walk in the park.
And Rivian, now with Amazon backing them,
I think has a legit shot here.
But, there is still a
lot of kind of unknowns
in the process from where they're at now
and to actually having
these cars on the road.
So, it's gonna be an interesting journey
and one I hope you'll stick with me
because, like all things,
this is fun to see
this transition we're going through
from gas-powered, diesel,
kind of, a burning
into a more sustainable
form of transportation.
So, let me know what you
guys think down below.
Who do you think will win and why?
I'm really curious to hear
your thoughts on this.
And, lastly, don't forget,
when you free the data,
your mind will follow.
Thanks for watching and I'll see you guys
back here next time.
(upbeat music)
Hey and thanks for watching the video.
If you like data, want to learn more,
maybe even make a career out of it,
I have a free course to help you
kickstart your data professional career.
It's a part of the FTD Academy,
the Free the Data Academy.
And it's free to you.
You can go check it out,
learn more, and sign-up
at FTDAcademy.com.
