Will pickup-truck buyers go electric?

Pickup trucks comprise the last U.S. light-duty vehicle segment to produce modern electric vehicle offerings, and they face unique engineering, economic and consumer acceptance challenges. To estimate adoption potential under engineering and economic projections, we conduct a discrete choice experiment with 534 U.S. pickup-truck buyers. We find a large majority (74%) of pickup truck buyers belong to latent classes that prefer or are indifferent to electric trucks when they offer comparable price, operating cost, range, towing and payload capacity with fast-charge capabilities. However, 26% are strongly opposed under any plausible vehicle technology trajectory. Price and range are the vehicle attributes that pose the largest barriers to increased adoption for most pickup truck buyers today. If electric pickup trucks achieve National Academies’ 2030 cost and range projections and are as widely available as conventional pickup trucks, our simulations suggest the majority of new U.S. pickup truck choices could be electric.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2025.105170
• Record URL:
  • http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920925005802
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/13619209
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier. The contents of this paper reflect the views of the author[s] and do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the Transportation Research Board or the National Academy of Sciences.
• Authors:
  • Forsythe, Connor
  • 0000-0002-3734-1840
  • Gillingham, Kenneth T
  • Michalek, Jeremy
  • 0000-0001-7678-8197
  • Whitefoot, Kate
  • 0000-0001-8961-5367
• Publication Date: 2026-4

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 105170
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment
  • Volume: 153
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 1361-9209
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13619209

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Choice models; Consumer preferences; Electric vehicles; Pickup trucks; Technology adoption
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Energy; Highways; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01976922
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 26 2026 8:41AM