The distance you can go on one charge is important to know when picking out an electric truck. Although electric auto industry has come a long way with making the batteries last longer and cover longer distances before needing to recharge, there are differences with the range with each manufacturer and even each truck model.
An average truck on the market today can go 300 miles before needing to be charged. This EPA estimated rating includes a 1000-lb of load added to the base truck weight.
Looking at the electric trucks available on the market and how far each can go we can see that most are hovering right around 300 miles range, but there is one that stands out from the rest. Let’s take a look at how far 5 of the most popular electric trucks available on the market today will go before needing to charge up.
How Far Can A Ford F-150 Lightning Go On One Charge?
Starting with the shortest distance you can travel before needing to recharge is the Ford F-150 Lightning coming in with a range of 230 miles when you buy their basic electric pickup truck at around $40,000 mark.
This is great if you are trying to spend as little as possible, but if you want more range, you can opt for a $10,000 upgrade which will beef up your horsepower by 137 HP and also boost you up to 300 miles range which is comparable to other trucks on this list.
This 300 mile range is the EPA estimated rating with 1000lb load in the bed of the truck. So if you are driving the truck without a load in it, it will go a lot further on a charge. According to a calculation in this video, the Lightning with just one passenger in the truck and no load can go as far as 459 miles.
How Far Can A Chevy Silverado EV Go On One Charge?
Chevy Silverado EV has a great range of 400 miles before needing to be recharged, and this is on all their trim levels.
That means you can get this range at their starting price of about $40,000 for a work truck level as long as you are running their 24″ wheels. That is what their 400 mile range is based on so, smaller wheels means range will be affected.
They promise it can go all day and will town and haul and run work equipment off of it. That is a hefty promise, I hope this is so because that is very attractive for a pickup owner.
How Far Can A GMC Hummer EV Go On One Charge?
Wow, the Hummer EV is a different type of electric truck… the main reason is because of its size. I mean it is a Hummer – it is heavy and huge.
Having said that, this beast is still able to go 350+ miles before needing to be charged again.
How is that possible you might say? Easy, they just put more batteries in it. It is true, the size of the Hummer EV’s batteries is double the size of any other electric vehicle on the market at the time of writing this. It is a 200kWh battery, twice the size of the Tesla’s jumbo battery of 100kWh.
No problem, this is a Hummer and it needs MORE POWER! That’s ok.
Read more about the Hummer EV:
How Much Does It Cost To Charge The Hummer EV At Home?
Does the Hummer EV Have a Third Row?
Does the Hummer EV Have a Heat Pump?
How Far Can A Rivian Go On One Charge?
The Rivian R1T & R1S both are rated at 314 miles range, which is pretty accurate to a real world test that Edmunds did. One thing that is concerning is that this truck is so heavy, it weighs in at 7150lb which is 2000lb heavier that any gas powered full size pickup truck.
For instance, a double cab Chevy Silverado 1500 weighs in at 5100lb. To give you a comparison, a 3500HD Double Cab Chevy Silverado weights about 7259lb. That’s how heavy the Rivian is.
The weight of this truck is also the reason for the second negative point, which is that it is very inefficient. It consumes 48kW per 100 miles, almost double that of a Tesla Y SUV which consumes 28kW per 100 miles.
How Far Can A Tesla Cybertruck Go On One Charge?
And the best for last… Cybertruck… This truck is unlike anything else on the market. It was made for driving on the Moon and Mars according to Elon Musk. They are actually making versions of this truck that are pressurized for space driving. I mean, you don’t hear other auto manufacturers talk about stuff like that.
Back to its range, there are rumors out there that it can go up to 620 miles on a charge. This is crazy compared to other electric trucks, but even the Toyota CEO said that Tesla has the recipe for reaching very long range, so its not too crazy.
If we look at the most basic and cheapest version of the Cybertruck, which is a single motor, rear-wheel drive setup with a standard battery pack. It’s range is 250+ miles. But you see that plus there after the 250? This is an indication that it can go much more. Elon Musk has said that he wants his product to over deliver. He wants them to be much better than what people expect.
The dual-motor, all-wheel drive Cybertruck has a range of 300+ miles but there is also talk about upgrading to a stacked battery which basically gives you double the power and gets you up to 450 miles+ range.
The latest updates show the tri-motor, all-wheel drive Cybertruck with the range of 500+ miles. This is very comparable to a standard gas powered pickup truck so they have reached the level where buying an electric pickup is a no-brainer. Am I ready to drive this alien vehicle to the job site and around town though? I don’t know if the world is ready for it yet.
How do we get to the 620+ miles though is the question. Stacked batteries? Probably. I don’t know. But we’ll definitely be looking out for more info on it and will update this article once more info is available.
What Can Affect The Electric Truck Range?
Electric vehicles are very sensitive to everything when it comes to its range. Every little difference can affect how far you will go before needing to charge the truck. So let’s look at those things that affect it.
Size of Wheels and Tires Affects The Electric Truck Range
The size of the wheels will affect the distance you can go before needing to charge again. This is because the larger the wheel and tire the more distance you can travel with one rotation and with smaller tire – less distance. The average electric motor has plenty of torque to spin them with about the same effort but the distance traveled is different.
Tire Pressure Affects The Electric Truck Range
There is a lot of flex in the tire when it is not properly inflated and it increases friction which will affect the range of an electric truck. So keep an eye on that tire pressure next time you take a long road trip. Actually just keep it properly inflated all the time to keep that efficiency up.
The Load Affects The Electric Truck Range
Because the EPA standard range estimation in the US includes a 1000lb of load in addition to the vehicle weight to estimate how far it can go on one charge, you can simply increase that estimation by not adding the 1000lb of load to your truck. Driving around by your self will automatically increase the estimated range. Adding more weight to the truck will obviously require more energy to push it around and will decrease how far you can haul it.
Incline/Decline Affects The Electric Truck Range
Just like weight, going up an incline will require more energy. Most roads are very variable in inclines and declines so the estimated range that the truck shows may vary slightly as you drive on your trip. Going down a hill can actually increase the miles left on your range gauge if your truck has regenerative braking option. This will actually generate electricity and put it back into your battery when you are going down a hill.
Weather Affects The Electric Truck Range
This is a big one. When it is cold outside, an unplugged electric truck can lose up to 20% of it’s battery power. This, plus the fact that when it is cold we tend to run the heater and maybe even heated seats, this will pull lots of energy out of the batteries that could have been used to run the motors.
The weather also affects charging times. In hot weather, it may take longer to charge the batteries to full charge.
AC/Heater Affects The Electric Truck Range
This one is related to weather too… Running any kinds of accessories including the AC or heater pulls energy from the batteries. We tend to take it for granted in gas-powered cars and trucks because the energy to power them does not directly come from gas. We are spoiled when it comes to that but as electric automobiles become more and more main stream it will be something we will need to get used to and be conscious of.
Battery Health Affects The Electric Truck Range
As batteries get old or abused (by super-charging too often) their health will decrease. In average, the health of the batteries will decrease at the rate of about 20% within 4 to 6 years of use and about 50% within 8 to 10 years. As the health of the batteries decreases so will the performance you can get out of them. To keep the batteries in tip-top shape it is recommended to avoid using the fast charge stations that use DC power to quick charge the car while you’re in a store or an event.
Speed Affects The Electric Truck Range
And the last one is, the speed you are traveling will affect how far your batteries will take you before you’ll need to refill. The faster you go, the more power is being used. If you get down to the last few watts as you’re trying to get to a charging station, driving slower may help you actually get there.
What We’ve Learned
With all this information overload about how far will an electric pickup truck go before needing to recharge, we walk away with knowing that we can go at least 300 miles in an average electric truck but we can also choose a cheeper version of the truck that will go less, but also we can have a Cybertruck that will go the longest… but we would have to deal with all the stares we’d get on that alien ship on wheels.
Valik loves tinkering in the garage and is currently restoring a 2000 GMC Sierra 1500 truck. He also writes about the progress on this blog. When not in the garage, Valik is also a web developer and a blogger. I know, strange, a hand in two completely different worlds. And that is the way he likes to keep it.
