With electric sedans and compacts now becoming more common on American streets, the next inevitable progress would be to electrify other vehicles as well. A company called the Workhorse Group aims to be the first to electrify the widely used pickup truck with their new W-15 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Pickup. While it might not be the fully electric pickup that Tesla has promised its consumers, the release of the new vehicle is still a big step towards having Americans embrace electric vehicles.
The future of hauling
The new Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (PHEV) pickup truck is powered by an all-electric motor and a gasoline-powered BMW-built range extender that further pushes its range.
The electric motor itself is capable of reaching 80 miles on a single charge, but the extender dramatically increases that to 390 miles with a full tank of gas.
Despite being a PHEV pickup, the vehicle can still move with the best of them. The W-15 can reach 60 mph from a standstill in just 5.5 seconds, thanks to its 460 horsepower output and the instantaneous delivery of torque from zero RPM.
Electric and conventional fuel
Being a hybrid, the vehicle still requires gasoline to power its range extender. However, the pickup can function without it, but only to a very limited extent. The pickup utilizes a 60 kWh battery, with a usable output of 45 KWh. The output has apparently been dialed down in order to ensure that the batteries can last as long as possible.
Despite the dialed down power output, the 7,200-pound truck can still haul some serious weight.
Made for fleets
According to the company, the W-15 was apparently designed to meet the needs of fleet managers, who want to save money and cut their emission footprints at the same time. The pickup is priced at a competitive $52,500, which the company says is a relative bargain when compared to vehicles such as the Ford F-150.
The increased price also actually makes a lot of sense when other things such as the fuel savings and low-cost maintenance are taken into account. The Workhorse Group also revealed that they actually already have secured orders for the first year of production, which will begin in late 2018 in Ohio.
Beating Tesla to the punch
Tesla's Elon Musk already announced that they are also going to be building an electric pickup truck. Unlike the W-15, Tesla's truck will apparently be fully-electric and will not require any gasoline to run. However, the biggest challenge will, of course, be its potential range. The Workhorse Group has already positioned themselves to be a big contender in the new market, but it still has yet to be seen how their product will perform against Tesla's upcoming new offering.
