World’s First Electric Pick-up Confirmed – It’ll Be A Workhorse!

The world’s first all-electric pick-up was demonstrated this week at one of the biggest tech shows; CES in Las Vegas.

The Workhorse Group has shown a near-production version of their W-15 electric pickup truck. The first 80 miles are powered purely by electricity, but there is also a petrol generator to charge the battery for an additional 310 miles. It will reach 60 miles per hour in 5.5 seconds with thanks to the 480 horsepower.

There are a few extra’s available, such as emergency braking and lane departure warning, but blind-spot monitoring and adaptive cruise control are not an option at the moment at least.

It is currently based on a Chevrolet Silverado, but the chassis is from Workhorse themselves, featuring independent rear suspension and all-wheel drive. There is a 7.2-kilowatt power exporter that can power tools even without the truck running. The payload is decent at 1 tonne and it can tow 2.3 tonnes.

Steve Burns Workhorse CEO says the W-15 is “designed to do anything a Ford F-150 can do.” A bold statement considering most F-150 models can tow more, many have more payload capacity and the F-150 is available with adaptive cruise control and a trailer backup assist technology.

Workhorse will deliver a fleet order of 5,300 units at the end of 2018, with customer orders coming in the first half of 2019. The W-15 will start at $52,500 but there’s a $7,500 tax credit as well as local incentives.

Following on from the SMMT reports last week showing a decline in sales of diesel vehicles here in the UK, despite the pick-up market bucking this trend, could electric pick-ups be yet another possible boost to the fastest growing sector of the market here?

UPDATE: The potential for the pickup truck market moving all-electric is definitely becoming more of a possibility. In recent months we’ve also seen news, leaks and prototypes from the likes of Tesla, Rivian and Ford.

Workhorse Pickup Electric

(Pictures courtesy of the CES blog post)

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