The clock is ticking on high-powered, gas-fuelled pickup trucks. Despite topping sales charts across all categories, and representing 20 per cent of all vehicles sold in North America, their days are numbered.
One reason is new legislation in the United States offering huge tax credits, valid through 2032, for EV purchases that are certain to attract the attention of fleet operators. Qualifying electric vehicles are eligible for a credit of up to $7,500 if weighing less than 14,000 pounds, and up to $40,000 if weighing more than that, subject to certain limitations. There are also tax credits for new recharging station installations.
These initiatives will ripple across to Canada. In fact, Canada’s federal government has recently announced an additional $16 million investment in recharging stations that will result in 2,000 more EV chargers installed across the country. The government is also continuing to offer an EV purchase incentive up to $5,000. Many provinces increase that higher, like Quebec with its added incentive of $8,000.
The Government of Canada also intends to mandate that at least 20 per cent of new passenger vehicles sold in Canada will be zero-emission vehicles by 2026, at least 60 per cent by 2030, and 100 per cent by 2035.
However, the required ramp up of production is going slowly. For example, so far in 2022, GM has sold only 7,200 electric vehicles. Ford has done better, selling 23,000 year-to-date. Actual deliveries are less.
Sourcing of battery materials is proving problematic. Fortunately, new battery technology is on the horizon.
The New York Times reports that new combinations of chemicals, minerals and metals are nearing pre-production in small factories. These batteries “would allow electric vehicles to recharge in minutes and travel hundreds of miles between charges, all for a much lower cost than batteries available now.”
It’s a game-changer still a few years away, but one that is being pursued by several companies backed by the likes of Ford, BMW and Porsche.
However, major North American auto manufacturers appear undaunted by the coming of EVs and continue to introduce new models of high-powered ICE pickup trucks to the marketplace.
In the last three months alone, GM, Ford and Dodge Chrysler have each announced new models for 2022-2023 that offer extreme horse-power, luxury interiors, large alloy wheel rims and colourful exterior graphics.
Admittedly, the aggressive marketing campaigns are not always aimed at the building industry but at working-man wannabes and those who enjoy the off-road experience of mud, water and sand. Nevertheless, the effects are felt by those in the trades.
Take Brian, for example. He owns a residential and commercial roofing company in central Ontario. He recently replaced his company-owned pickup with a 2020 Ford 250 “Godzilla,” featuring a 7.3 litre engine that outputs 430hp. When asked why he bought this vehicle for his business rather than a lighter commercial vehicle, he explained he needed to pull his family’s 37-foot, 11,000-pound camping trailer.
“A Ford Transit’s towing capacity is less than half that.”
Brian admitted giving “exactly zero consideration” to his new Ford Godzilla’s fuel economy, even though 20.1 acres of mature forest are required to absorb its annual carbon output. Neither was he negatively influenced by the safety of its menacing front grill design.
The front grills of North American pickup trucks, sometimes nearly five feet high vertically, make it hard to see pedestrians or cyclists. And if they do strike one, they tend to mow them down, causing death or serious injury. It’s a concern expressed in a 2020 report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
These grills are a North American phenomenon. The European New Car Assessment Programme standards (NCAP) discourage such designs.
Get them while you can. Like the dinosaur, the dominance of massive ICE pickups will end as EV pickups inevitably become an accepted part of the construction scene.
John Bleasby is a Coldwater, Ont.-based freelance writer. Send comments and Inside Innovation column ideas to editor@dailycommercialnews.com.
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