Electric Pickup Race is on: Is Nikola The Tesla of Trucking?

While electric cars are taking off in a big way, the pickups have been rather slow in shifting gears to electric. But that’s about to change soon. Come 2021, consumers will be spoiled for choice as a vast number of electric pickups are slated to hit the market. Yes, you heard it right!

Competition will intensify soon as various start-ups and automotive giants are directing their attention to electrify delivery and distribution trucks. With reducing battery prices, increasing costs for carbon-burning engines and stricter emissions compliance standards, automakers have started reconsidering their business models. The electric truck is about to explode this decade, with most models letting go off their conventional engines for an emissions-free solution.

Electric pickups are becoming the hottest thing in the electric game, with auto giants including Tesla TSLA, Ford F and General Motors GM racing to bring models to the market. While Tesla currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), General Motors and Ford presently carry a Rank #3 (Hold).You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

With a number of amazing offerings lined up including the super stylish Cybertruck, Tesla is set to take the electric vehicle (EV) market by storm. In fact, the red-hot EV maker has the potential to single-handedly define EVs in 2021. But hold on for a moment and say hello to Nikola!

Tesla, Meet Nikola. Musk, Meet Milton

Hydrogen-truck upstart Nikola is set to give a tough competition to Tesla. In addition to making environment-friendly trucks, Nikola also offers sport-utility vehicles and even a fully-electric sit-down personal watercraft. In fact, many are even dubbing the company as the ‘Next Tesla’!

People are also drawing comparisons between Tesla’s CEO Musk and Nikola’s CEO Trevor Milton. Both are super wealthy and brimming with ambition. And yes, both love to share their happiness with the entire world via tweeting! Is Trevor rightly touted as the next Musk?

Is Nikola Really Giving Tesla a Run for Its Money?

Shares of Nikola have been on fire since it joined Nasdaq after a reverse merger with VectoIQ on Jun 3. Nikola grabbed massive attention on Jun 8, when its stock price more than doubled. Monday's meteoric gains came after Milton issued a series of tweets announcing a reservation date for the company’s upcoming Badger truck, which, in his words, is “the most bad ass zero emission truck”. It should be noted that by 2027, Nikola anticipates a production of 30,000 fuel cell electric vehicle trucks.

The company’s shares rose another 9% yesterday. Based on yesterday’s closing price, Nikola is now more valuable than Ford and Fiat Chrysler FCAU. Trevor seemed more than happy to celebrate the success with the world and tweeted:

“I've wanted to say this my whole adult life; $NKLA [NKLA] is now worth more than Ford and FCA. Nipping on the heels of GM. It may go up or down and that's life but I'll do my part to be the most accessible and direct executive on Twitter. Others will follow.”

According to the company, Nikola’s pre-orders represent more than $10 billion in revenues. Well, Nikola Badger pickup, apart from being fully electric, does look superb. However, it remains to be seen if these orders will come to fruition. While Nikola’s hydrogen truck and fuel plans are truly ambitious, it is set to face severe competition from auto biggies like Toyota TM, Honda HMC, Tesla, General Motors and others in the foreseeable future.

Only time will tell if Nikola’s share price can maintain its current trajectory. Also, Milton is off to a good start, but we will have to wait and watch if he manages to match up with the charisma of Musk for long.

Electric Pickup Models to Watch Out for

With competition building up in the market, let’s take a sneak peek into the electric pickups of various automakers. While almost all of them are slated to go on sale by 2021, it would not come as a big surprise if the companies plan to delay their launch amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

Tesla Cybertruck is likely the most anticipated electric pickup of 2021. Its radical design, spectacular specs and a reasonable base price of $39,900 have indeed received an overwhelming response. Such is the hype that it received 250,000 bookings in just a week since being showcased. According to Cybertruck Owners Club, its pre-orders were 622,000 as of March 2020.

U.S. top auto giant General Motor’s decision to re-introduce Hummer as an electric-model, which had earlier become a symbol of gas-guzzling due to excess size and low-fuel economy, has taken the industry by surprise. The Hummer electric pickup will be built on General Motor’s third-gen BT1 EV platform and is estimated to have a 400 mile range on a single charge, thanks to the new ‘Ultium’ battery packs. It will offer up to 11,500 pound-feet of torque, a measure of pulling power. While it is likely to hit the roads by 2022, some reports suggest that the company is considering a late 2021 debut for this iconic vehicle.

U.S. #2 automaker Ford is developing an all-electric version of F-150, the nation’s best-selling pickup. The pre-production testing of the vehicle is currently underway.The company made huge headlines when it released a video last summer to demonstrate the pickup’s remarkable towing capacity. The electric F-150 prototype was seen pulling ten double-decker rail cars filled with 42 F-150 pickups, weighing nearly one million pound.

Bollinger Motors is a relatively small player but is ready to give a tough competition to auto biggies. Bollinger B2, priced at $125,000,is likely to be the most expensive of the upcoming electric trucks. Banking on ruggedness and old school styling, Bollinger will indeed grab attention from rich masses. Bollinger B2 claims a respectable 614 horsepower and 668 lb-ft of torque from its dual-motor setup.

American startup Rivian — whose major backers include Ford and Amazon AMZN — is targeting a starting price of $69,000 for the base version of R1T.With electric AWD, level 3 autonomous capabilities, tough styling and plenty of torque to boot, R1T’s off-road capabilities will be its USP.

Lordstown Motors has also been making headlines after it purchased the shuttered Lordstown plant from General Motors. The firm is set to unveil the Lordstown pickup truck on Jun 22, 2020, with deliveries beginning from January 2021. It aims to sell 20,000 electric pickups in 2021. The vehicle has4 in-wheel hub motors with a range of about 250 miles on a single charge.

And of course, we cannot forget Nikola Badger truck, which will hit the markets in 2021!

Last Words

Indeed, 2021 is going to be the year for electric pickups and will significantly accelerate the electric revolution. To find out who is going to create the best electric truck and win this race, we will have to wait till 2021. It remains to seen whether trucks can become tickets to high sales in the electric vehicle market.

Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential

The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.

Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.

See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
Ford Motor Company (F) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (HMC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Toyota Motor Corporation (TM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
General Motors Company (GM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. (FCAU) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
 
Zacks Investment Research