Hop in the pickup

15.03.23 | One would think the US is slowly turning into a country with increasingly unpaved roads, judging from the rising share of light-duty trucks in vehicle sales. The share of sports utility vehicles over 2,700 kg (SUVs), pickups, minivans and vans, collectively categorized as ‘light-duty trucks’, has risen from 20% in 1975 to 61% in 2021. During a period of high oil prices such as the early 1980s and mid-2000s there were notably decreases in the percentage of light-duty trucks. These trends suggests that consumers favor light-duty trucks but are quite sensitive to high fuel costs in their purchasing decision. But what if consumers could have both a truck and low fuel costs? New electric pickup trucks like the Ford F-150 Lightning, Chevrolet Silverado EV, Rivian R1T and the Tesla Cybertruck seem to have this value proposition.

Source: US Department of Energy, 2022.