{"id":28702,"date":"2022-02-05T09:47:15","date_gmt":"2022-02-05T13:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=28702"},"modified":"2022-02-05T09:50:17","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T13:50:17","slug":"hybrid-or-ev-pickups-show-how-toyota-detroit-three-differ-on-electrification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/hybrid-or-ev-pickups-show-how-toyota-detroit-three-differ-on-electrification","title":{"rendered":"Hybrid or EV? Pickups show how Toyota, Detroit Three differ on electrification"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carmel Valley, Calif.<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Toyota is from Mars, Detroit automakers are from Venus.<\/p>\n

Toyota, America\u2019s best-selling brand in 2021, makes rugged trucks in Texas for American buyers. But it has always pursued a more retail-focused strategy than Motor City truckmakers who split their attention between retail and commercial fleet buyers.<\/p>\n

As the federal government tries to force automakers to make EVs over the next decade, that truck strategy is diverging even further as the 2022 Toyota Tundra sidesteps fully electric trucks for retail buyer-preferred hybrid powertrains while General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. build battery-powered Silverado EV and F-150 Lightning pickups for their retail and commercial fleet customers.<\/p>\n

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The Toyota and the Detroit Three plans are case studies in how big automakers plan to keep both their customer and government constituencies happy. Where Toyota Motor Corp. sees volume sales \u2014 and resulting regulatory compliance \u2014 in its hybrid SUV and sedan offerings, GM and Ford see customer volume in their fleet truck sales.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus was towing \u2014 the vast majority of Tundra owners tow,\u201d said Toyota marketing manager Joe Moses at the Tundra i-Force MAX hybrid\u2019s media test in California. \u201cSo the priority was torque. We have a nice place with active recreation consumers. They\u2019re out towing things, riding motorcycles, on ATVs, going fishing. We found that\u2019s the place where we\u2019ve been successful, and that\u2019s where we\u2019ll continue to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

As with buyers of its best-selling RAV4 compact SUV and Camry sedan hybrids, Toyota found its retail customers didn\u2019t want fully electric trucks, which, despite their impressive low-end torque, have poor range \u2014 especially when towing. Real-world\u00a0tests by TFLTrucks.com have found that EVs lose about 70% of range when towing.<\/p>\n

With a 32.2-gallon fuel tank and EPA highway rating of 22 mpg, the Tundra has a range of just over 700 miles. By comparison, the F-150 Lightning’s range tops out at 300 miles.<\/p>\n

Toyota expects 25% of its pickup sales to be hybrid \u2014 similar to the percentage of electrified vehicle sales (gas-hybrid, plug-in\u00a0and hydrogen fuel cell) in 2021 for the rest of its model lineup, led by the RAV4 and Camry. Toyota sold 583,697 vehicles in 2021 equipped with a battery of some kind.<\/p>\n

Those sales, analysts say, also will help Toyota meet its mpg regulatory compliance goals as the EPA ratchets up fuel economy standards in coming years.<\/p>\n

\u201cToyota is smart to do what they are doing,\u201d iSeeCars.com auto analyst Karl Brauer said. \u201cToyota is focused on making vehicles that will sell to today\u2019s customers, while watching how EV demand develops. Maybe they are wrong, but they haven\u2019t gotten much wrong in the last 50 years and they just sold more vehicles in the U.S. in 2021 than anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

GM and Ford, by contrast, are making bold bets that consumers will make a quick shift to EVs. GM says that its lineup will be exclusively EV by 2035 and has abandoned hybrid vehicles to make big investments in all-electric skateboard chassis. Ford is investing heavily in EVs as well but is also bullish on gas-hybrids with its Escape Hybrid and Lincoln Corsair and Aviator plug-in models.<\/p>\n

Like Toyota, say analysts, the Detroit automakers are playing to their strength: truck market dominance. Together, they hold more than 90% of the U.S. full-size pickup market.<\/p>\n

While GM and Ford have struggled to sell hybrids on the same scale as their Japanese rival, they have a stranglehold on the U.S. commercial fleet pickup and delivery van markets. The Detroit manufacturers see big opportunities for EVs there.<\/p>\n

At her recent address to the Consumer Electronics Show touting the General\u2019s zero-emission future, CEO Mary Barra highlighted demand from corporate customers for electric BrightDrop vans. Walmart has signed an agreement with the Detroit maker to buy 5,000 BrightDrop vans, while FedEx (BrightDrop\u2019s first customer) is already taking delivery of 500 vehicles with more expected to come.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s sexy to talk about retail electric vehicles, but there is actually so much opportunity in the fleet market,\u201d said Ed Kim, industry analyst with Auto Pacific. \u201cFleet vehicles can run fixed routes of 150 miles on a smaller, cheaper battery. Then they can charge overnight on cheaper utility rates. With Congress\u2019s proposed $12,500 in incentives, a Ford Lightning EV, for example, can make up its purchase premium over a gas-powered F-150\u00a0of about $10,000.”<\/p>\n

Ford is bullish on selling the Lightning to fleet consumers while GM sees its BrightDrop van demand translating to the pickup market. Indeed, the fleet-focused\u00a0Work Truck version of the Silverado EV will beat the retail version to market in early 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of pickups,\u201d continued Kim. \u201cThey can sell a variety of flavors to fleet and high-end retail customers. Chevrolet is launching a work truck, but also a loaded, $105,000 Silverado EV.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Detroit Three will continue to build diesel pickups for the heavy and light-duty markets given their superior towing capability and mpg numbers. But heavy-duty trucks will soon lose their federal exemption from mpg regulations \u2014 and will become tougher to make just as diesels have become expensive to engineer in the light-duty market.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted a diesel engine (for the Tundra). We\u2019re using a brand-new diesel engine overseas;\u00a0it’s fabulous,\u201d said Tundra chief engineer Mike Swears in California. \u201cBut diesels in North America are very difficult to certify now and demand for diesel is going down. The (emissions) after-treatment system is about $3,000 added to the cost of the engine. So in comes the hybrid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chevy, Ford\u00a0and Ram light-duty diesels get 20% better fuel efficiency than Toyota\u2019s Tundra. But given the regulatory climate, Toyota\u2019s Moses says the hybrid\u2019s dexterity makes it attractive to truck owners just as hybrids have sold well to SUV and sedan owners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are things about diesel that we wanted to make sure that we delivered in our\u201d hybrid, said the marketing chief. \u201cThe torque and power is the most important thing. As we evaluated the different options, what we were able to do with this new hybrid system was deliver on more horsepower, more torque\u00a0and more mpg off of the outgoing V-8 engine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever their electrification strategy, the American and Japanese pickups will cost you. Trucks have become the new luxury vehicles with stratospheric sticker prices. Top Lightning and Silverado EV trims will push $100K. With the Tundra Hybrid, Toyota is introducing a new Capstone model starting at 75 grand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve continued to see the consumer transaction price in full-size pickups go up. Some of it is around the towing technology, a lot of it the advancement in tech,\u201d Moses said. \u201cConsumers aren\u2019t just looking at a basic truck \u2014 (they) want a truck that can do everything, but with all the amenities, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

And will Toyota develop an electric pickup?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt goes back to the priority about towing,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue to watch the market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carmel Valley, Calif.\u00a0\u2014 Toyota is from Mars, Detroit automakers are from Venus. Toyota, America\u2019s best-selling brand in 2021, makes rugged trucks in Texas for American buyers. But it has always pursued a more retail-focused strategy than Motor City truckmakers who split their attention between retail and commercial fleet buyers. As the federal government tries to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28702"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28702"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28703,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28702\/revisions\/28703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}