There’s no more polarizing vehicle today than the Tesla Cybertruck. You likely either love it or hate it. If you side on the latter, that’s okay because there are electric pickup truck options out there other than the Cybertruck.
Instead of the Cybertruck, which recently became the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. with a price tag of over $100,000, you could opt for the Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T, Chevrolet Silverado EV or GMC Sierra EV. All four are solid options with perhaps the Rivian R1T being the standout. It was recently upgraded significantly, too.
Willing to wait a bit? If so, there are two more options on the way soon and those include the Ram 1500 Ramcharger, an extended-range electric vehicle set to launch early next year, and the fully electric Ram 1500 REV, which should arrive by the end of this year.
Let’s explore those other electric pickup truck options, but first, here’s what the Cybertruck offers.
Weβre still unsure if the Tesla Cybertruck is a rugged and powerful truck that you can tow and go off-road in or if itβs just a movie prop thatβs good for posing more than anything else. Itβs not a truck for introverts because itβs the most conspicuous vehicle in the world right now, and it will get you a lot of attentionβyou have to accept that if youβre even considering buying a Cybertruck.
Thereβs no question about its power and acceleration, though. With the recent addition of Off-Road Mode, you can finally take it rock crawling or pretend youβre a rally driver around an unpaved road, and itβs good at power-pulling.
With all hopes of a rear-wheel-drive $61,000 Cybertruck virtually dead, the $81,895 Dual Motor variant with 600 hp, a 4.1-second 0 to 60 mph time, and 318 miles of range will remain the entry-level model. The $101,985 Cyberbeast has three motors delivering a combined 834 hp and 740 lb-ft, propelling the Cybertruck to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds. The range drops to 301 miles for the Cyberbeast.
Tesla says that dual- and tri-motor Cybertrucks can tow up to 11,000 pounds. If the manufacturer launches the single-motor truck as planned, it can only tow 7,500 lbs. Its six-foot bed with a motorized retractable tonneau cover is rated to carry a payload of up to 2,500 lbs.
Even though Ford didnβt launch a new electric model on a new platform like Ram is doing with the 1500 REV, the F-150 Lighting was done right. It is quick, practical, and packed with tech, and itβs one of the highest-rated electric trucks that you can buy today.
The Pro work truck variant is the most affordable, costing $54,995 and having a range of 240 miles with the standard 98 kWh battery pack. Upgrading to the Extended Battery (131 kWh) costs at least $10,000, but it increases the range to 320 miles. The XLT version with the small battery costs $62,995 and $67,995 with the larger pack.
F-150 Lightnings with the standard battery have 452 hp and can tow up to 7,700 lbs, while those with the larger pack have 580 hp, which allows them to tow up to 10,000 lbs. Payload capacity is also affected by the choice of battery pack: standard battery trucks can carry up to 2,235 lbs, while those with the large pack can only take 1,952 lbs. The payload capacity seems to vary slightly depending on which trim and options you choose.
Rivian has achieved so much for what is still an EV startup, and it owes much of its success to the R1T, which is an excellent vehicle. It is the truck version of the R1S, and it shares many of the SUVβs qualities. However, itβs less expensive and more versatile, with a 54-inch bed in the back.
You will pay $69,900 for an R1T Adventure Dual Standard with 270 miles of range and a 4.5-second 0 to 60 mph time, while the 850-hp R1T Ascend Tri Max with a 2.9-second sprint time and 371 miles of range will cost you $99,900.
Even though the R1T is slightly smaller than the F-150 and Silverado EV, it is rated to tow more, with an upper limit of 11,000 lbs. Its payload capacity in the bed is 1,700 lbs.
GM is challenging the Ford F-150 Lightning with a down-to-earth electric pickup in the form of the Chevrolet Silverado EV, which will have a starting price of around $60,000, and the most expensive versions will cost around $100,000. It will have battery packs larger than all its competitors, with the largest one expected to have a capacity of 205 kWh, providing over 450 miles of range in the most frugal model variants.
It can tow up to 10,000 lbs, although GM has said that it plans to eventually launch a version that can double that. The maximum payload capacity is 1,440 lbs.
The GMC Sierra EV will be the more luxurious alternative to the Silverado EV, but both trucks are expected to be virtually identical mechanically. The launch edition, the Denali Edition 1, costs almost $100,000, has 754 hp and a claimed range of 440 miles. We recently drove the GMC Sierra EV. Read our impressions here.
InsideEVs contributing writer Andrei Nedelea contributed a significant amount of content to this story.
