Toyota is playing a little coy about bringing an electric pickup to North America, but we could see a Tacoma EV sooner rather than later.
Toyota recently produced a one-off electric version of the Hilux pickup truck. The Toyota Hilux is sold around the world, and the model used to create the Hilux BEV Revo Concept was built in Thailand. The Toyota plant in Thailand produces Hilux pickup trucks for the Australia and Oceania markets. This new electric truck brings a finished, production-ready look to it, making us wonder if this brand is much closer to an electric Tacoma than they want to let on.
The electric Hilux is a bit of a ute
Midsize trucks sold in global markets are much different from what we see in North America. This electric Hilux is more of a ute than anything else, which is what Australia calls a utility vehicle. In 2022, 145,000 Hilux trucks were sold in Thailand, with 64,000 sold in Australia. These sales figures aren’t enough to make the Hilux the best-selling vehicle in the country, but it’s near the top.
The Hilux BEV concept is a city-focused pickup that could quickly become a production model, but that doesn’t give us much hope of such a vehicle making it to the United States.
The Hilux won’t be offered in the US
The Chicken Tax keeps many foreign-made vehicles out of North America, but we’ve had hopes of an electric Toyota pickup for the past two years. Toyota revealed a Tacoma EV concept in 2021, which we hoped would enter production alongside the new 2024 model. The 2024 Tacoma brings us a brand-new generation with a hybrid powertrain. Is it possible we’ll see the EV model next year? Maybe, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Cold water from the big boss
Toyota president Akio Toyoda doesn’t feel that electrification is the guarantee that many others think it could be. He was quoted in 2022 saying, “I believe we need to be realistic about when society will be able to fully adopt battery-electric vehicles and when our infrastructure can support them at scale.”
It’s hard to argue against his point. The current infrastructure isn’t large enough to support the speed at which many countries are adopting EVs. Still, the added use of Tesla Superchargers by most automakers has changed things quickly.
Toyoda’s words put a lot of cold water on the future EVs of his brand, but things could change quickly.
Will Toyota wait for next-gen batteries?
Toyota has laid out a plan to offer some EVs utilizing its next-gen battery technology in the upcoming years. This could mean that we won’t see a Toyota Tacoma EV until 2026 or 2027. If Toyota waits much longer than this, possibly for the solid-state batteries, they could be last to the market with an electric truck.
The competition in the EV pickup truck market is already growing quickly. Ford has cornered much of the market with the F-150 Lightning, but GM is getting into the mix with the Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV. Other automakers have already begun to offer electric trucks, with the Rivian R1T in production and the long-awaited Tesla Cybertruck on the way. Ram should have the 1500 REV up and running soon, which puts Toyota at the end of the line.
Should a Tacoma EV come sooner than 2026?
Toyota has committed to releasing at least ten new EVs by 2026. This doesn’t mean those ten will all be for the North American market. They could opt to build the Hilus BEV in foreign markets and count it as one of the ten. Currently, only one EV falls under the Toyota name, the bZ4X, which has been met with mixed reviews. An electric Tacoma is the right answer to what some shoppers are looking for.
What should an electric Tacoma include?
We expect a new Toyota Tacoma EV to be sold alongside the gas-powered version. Toyota could offer this new electric truck similarly to what Ford has done with the F-150 and F-150 Lightning. The electric Tacoma is likely to be based solely on the four-door version with a short bed. This could be the right configuration to get Toyota into the electric pickup market, but they don’t seem too concerned with entering this market right away.
When will we see an electric truck wearing the Toyota badge? This question haunts those of us looking forward to a competitive midsize truck with an electric powertrain from Toyota.
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