Looking for an Electric Pickup Truck? More Options Are on the Way

General Motors Co.

GM 0.36%

on Wednesday released a video teasing an electric version of its GMC Sierra, the third plug-in pickup in the works from GM.

Toyota Motor Corp.

TM 3.30%

a day earlier revealed plans for a future electric pickup truck, while outlining the Japanese auto maker’s broader electric ambitions.

Last month,

Nissan Motor Co.

NSANY 2.56%

also showed an electric-truck prototype, a futuristic off-roader it called the Surf-Out. Meanwhile,

Ford Motor Co.

F 0.70%

recently said it has logged about 200,000 non-binding reservations for its forthcoming electric F-150 Lightning, a battery-powered truck that goes on sale this spring.

With these future models, car companies are hoping to gain an edge in what traditionally has been a key battleground in the car business. Pickup trucks are among the industry’s most profitable offerings, especially for U.S. auto makers like GM and Ford, where they account for the bulk of global profit.

Now, traditional auto makers aren’t only squaring off with each other but also newcomers to the auto market to establish footholds in the plug-in pickup-truck space.

Rivian, an Irvine, Calif.-based startup, which has seen its valuation soar since its IPO last month, essentially has the market to itself for now. Right now, it is the only auto manufacturer selling a fully electric pickup truck, having recently released its first model, the R1T.

In the next few weeks, GM is scheduled to begin delivering its $100,000 GMC Hummer electric pickup to U.S. showrooms. Ford’s $40,000 Lightning F-150 is expected to sell in much higher volumes than the Hummer when it goes on sale, expected by summer.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said last week at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit that the electric-vehicle leader would begin making its Cybertruck pickup in significant numbers in 2023. Trucks are also in the works from several startups, including

Lordstown Motors Corp.

and

Canoo Inc.

GM executives have referenced plans for a plug-in version of the GMC Sierra but haven’t provided details or a preview before Wednesday. The truck will be revealed next year and built in Detroit, the company said.

The truck will be mechanically similar to the Hummer and another planned electric model, the Chevrolet Silverado-E, which GM is scheduled to reveal at the CES consumer-electronics trade show next month. That model, expected to go on sale in the first half of 2023, would compete directly with the Ford’s F-150 Lightning.

The future GM trucks will be built using a new battery system that GM says will be lower cost and have longer driving ranges than past electric offerings.

“I think the Silverado-E is really going to educate people on what you can do with an electric truck,” GM Chief Executive

Mary Barra

said during an appearance at the Automotive Press Association last week.

Ford has said the demand for its F-150 Lightning has been much stronger than expected, and that it is moving quickly to add production capacity. Most of the reservation holders aren’t traditional truck buyers, Ford product chief Hau Thai Tang said an investor conference last week, suggesting the market for electric trucks could be a way to expand beyond Ford’s traditional customer base.

The number of new electric models coming from traditional auto makers will make it tough for any startup company to dominate any given category of the market, Bank of America auto analyst John Murphy said in a recent note.

“The competitive landscape among incumbents and entrants in the industry march towards electrification is becoming increasingly fierce,” he said.

Write to Mike Colias at [email protected]

Corrections & Amplifications
A photo that ran in an earlier version of this article incorrectly identified a truck as a Ford-150 Lightning. The photo has been removed from the article. (Corrected on Dec. 15, 2021.)