Would you buy a full size electric truck?

Imagine if a full size electric truck was produced by Ford, Dodge, Chevy or Toyota. How many truck fans would buy them? Would they help to make EVs widespread?

I posted this question on one of the EV groups on Facebook with the story by one of TorqueNews guest-blogger Curt Robbins titled Electric F-150 Necessary for Widespread EV Adoption. Here are few interesting comments by group members that I would like to share here with our readers.

"I have played with VIA electric truck and like it a lot. They had it in San Francisco at a promo event. It's a no brainier for fleet use and for small business as it makes on site or emergency power. We need to use plug ins, preferably on advanced biofuels like Solazyme and Propel provide in the Bay Area as we transition to all electric transportation," wrote Nicholas Martin for TorqueNews from Silicon Valley.

Tom Blackburn writes. "I could very much see plug-in hybrid F150's and Silverados taking off if they figure out how to crank out batteries at a lower price point. I'm sure fleet managers could easily solve the problem of where to locate charging infrastructure for their companies, and have access to better electric pricing off-peak. Fleets usually will get into this stuff in a big way once the technology is proven and the price differential makes sense, so they can streamline maintenance. Wal-Mart is already testing hybrid tractor-trailers."

On the other hand, Giorgio Rasini commented that VIA is too small, not enough heavy and too aerodynamic. "Everybody knows that an electic car, in order to be efficient and have a great range, must be: heavy like a jumbo jet, shaped like a bric, as aerodynamic as a wall, and huge. This thing is not heavy, not high, not big, and not rectangular enough," Rasini writes.

Rocky Hinten writes that he likes the VIA idea." I do think they could stand to go a bit higher, with around 80 miles or so because that is also the source for heating, onboard external power supplies, etc. that suck range. But I guess if it's not going to be needed most of the time, and you are going to have a gas engine in it anyway, why waste the cost and weight of the extra battery capacity?"

Tesla does plan to do a truck at some point, but that's not going to be before 2020 or so, Hinten continues. "That leaves a pretty decent time window if one of these other companies wants to try to beat it to market to offer something that Tesla does not, rather than trying to match what they already have," he adds in his comment.

Also See: Is there a future for electric pickup trucks?