The Electric Pickup Revolution Is Starting in Illinois; It's Here

Ten years ago it was just a futuristic dream, but the electrification of the automobile is finally happening. There have been many potholes along the road, but it sure seems like this is happening.

Electric vehicles are always appealing to tech geeks like me. But with the price of a gallon of gasoline sitting well north of $3 right now and for the foreseeable future (and reports of $7.59/gallon in a town in California), all of the sudden, the thought of just plugging in for a fraction of that cost, is very appealing. Remember the big deal when GM announced the return of the Hummer as an EV?

A co-worker wrote a piece a day to two ago about Ford coming out with a hybrid that gets 42 miles per gallon. I remember back to the days when only a tiny little import would do that, and there's no way you could fit one, let alone four full-sized adults into it comfortably.

I've shared my story before. I got to drive a Chevy Volt across Kalamazoo about seven years ago. It was the single best drive I've ever had. Instant torque; forget all jokes about an expensive golf cart.

So, back to the headline. Pickup truck. I just saw a story in the Chicago Tribune, where a new truckmaker, Rivian, is ready to sell their electric pickup truck (several months ahead of competitor and investor Ford, and they took one to Chicago. It turned heads. But many working folks don't care about that. How about zero to 60 in three seconds, and 11,000 lbs of hauling capacity. My point is not to sell you on this. It's here. And it's built in the Midwest (Normal, Illinois, at the old Mitsubishi plant), not some Southern state. As stated, Ford is one of the investors and they have a deal to build utility vehicles for Amazon. What they and we really need now is a charging infrastructure.

The future is here, folks. Let's see how it plays out.

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