Taking a pulse of the auto industry a few years ago would have resulted in most people thinking, at least for a hot minute, that the immediate future was going to be electric with a quick and hard shift away from fossil fuels. Automakers started swapping gears and gas for batteries and inverters. Then it all fell apart despite everyone taking different strategies.

 

Ford made a normal-looking F-150 that just happened to be electric and resurrected the Lightning nameplate, then killed it. GM went all-in on a dedicated platform with huge batteries for mega trucks featuring eye-popping range. And Ram? It never even launched its electric truck with ridiculous specs before killing it off. But it was the startups, Rivian and Tesla, that laid blueprints for a path forward while competitors scribbled notes. Now we have round two on the horizon, but do electric trucks even make sense?