Purchasing a new Workhorse W-15 truck would be a radial change from what most Americans are used to. Some popular product lines like Silverado, F150, and Ram all have one thing in common. Large displacement combustion engines. Quite a shift from how things used to be around the turn of the century. Back then electric vehicles were more popular than gasoline. Technology adoption has slowly evolved over time cast aside electric vehicles. The past 100 years trends shifted to the ways of only building fossil fuel powered vehicles.
More recently consumers began to realize you can save money if you are buying a car or truck that consumes less energy. Some being up to four times more efficient than the competition. Electric trucks and cargo vans are quickly moving out of their early stages of being tested and engineered by companies around the world and into the mainstream spotlight. Another feature gasoline engines lack is the ability to run indoors for long periods of time without risking contact with dangerous fumes. Also most EVs allow us the ability to use them as a back up electricity generator. A good match for tail-gater's and construction workers, or even a simple grid power outage.
Electric vehicles do come with a few setbacks. For example the charging infrastructure is limited to a smaller number of locations and is typically slower than a gas station. The different vehicle manufactures can't decide on a single charging standard either. This compounds into a larger charge infrastructure problem. Imagine if all the gas stations had different sized pumps. Then you have to find the correct one with your size pump before you can even fill up. This in-fighting between automakers can slow down the adoption rate of electric vehicles. Another flaw currently known with EV's, is the reduced range in cold conditions. To some, mainly the business consumers, the main factors coming into play are the end costs. Making electric vehicles a favorable choice in some cases.
Specification wise, Workhorse has provided more than the average person would ever need. With 460 HP it can compare to some of the most powerful trucks in the class. Zero to 60mph in a claimed 5.5 seconds makes the pickup just as fast as some sports cars. Also, having 80 miles of range it becomes useful in a number of construction related jobs. Similar to the BMW i3, Workhorse's W-15 includes a range extender. This is basically a small gas generator giving a boost of range by charging up the battery. While impressive, only time will tell if the company will be able to make a truck to meet those specifications. If you are interested in checking it out in further detail, you can find the website here. They are accepting a $1000 refundable deposit for the W-15 from customers today. Workhorse have received upwards of 2000 orders.