Pickups are a great success in the mobility market. The usage of big cars is not only for the good looks, but of course, what they are capable of handling. To start, the storage space of one of these trucks is bigger and better than any other car. They can also travel on off-road sites, especially the ones that are hard to move on a standard 4-wheel vehicle.
Designed mostly for adventurous campers and workers, the US has been one of the best places in the world to use a pickup. Carmakers have been investing in always having better trucks out. Between all the vehicles, some models stand out. The one that stands out on sales is Ford’s F-150.
Now, another company is growing on the market and has been attracting the eyes of customers. This company is Rivian. They will launch their first EVs at the end of 2020, and their names are R1T and R1S. These two new trucks are all-electric and promise to bring some amazing specs, tech, and a very nice appearance.
So, anticipating the release of Rivian’s Electric Trucks, The Next Avenue decided to create a comparison between the gas-truck that is already out on the market, with the R1T that is still one year away from coming to customers.
Ford F-Series
The Ford F-Series consists of several models of pickup trucks by the carmaker. According to the company, they sold over 900,000 units of the F-Series Truck in 2018 alone. The reason for this being that this type of vehicle can tow over 7000 pounds due to its twin-turbo V6. The model with a V8 turbo reached 60 mph in 6.3 seconds. The power of torque from this truck reaches 440 lb-ft.
Also, the F-Series trucks were rated to be one of the safest pickups in 2017, coming with features such as automatic braking with pedestrian detection, lane-keeping assistance, and even adaptive cruise control. Now, the newest Ford models will count with CoPilott 360: a series of features looking for the best safety of the truck with at least 16 new technologies to help the driver. You can check all of them in this article by Car and Driver.
Three key features that made F-150 one of the safest pickups are the ‘Emergency Braking With Pedestrian Detection’; ‘Lane Departure Warning’ and ‘Lane Keeping’ assist.
There are several prices for the car:
• XL: $30,090
• XLT: $36,105
• Lariat: $44,095
• King Ranch: $54,335
• Platinum: $56,865
• Limited: $69,080
It is also important to remember that Ford is in the process of developing an electric version of F-150. The carmaker didn’t show much of the EV yet, but in a promotional video, the truck was seen towing over a million pounds.
The bed on the back part of the car is made by an 8ft bed, which is actually a lot of space. Inside the driver’s cabin, a touch screen panel is used to control the several features that the car allows you to use. As reported on the carmaker’s website, the standard entertainment systems are:
- AM/FM Stereo
- SiriusXM Satellite Radio
- SYNC® 3
- FordPass™ Connect with WiFi® Hotspot
The leather seats create a fancy looking car, ideal for drivers who like this kind of design. Check every single specification from the car here.
Rivan’s R1T
The awaited new electric Truck R1T has never been tested by a customer, yet. This creates a skepticism over the new vehicle, and people start questioning if it will actually fulfill its promises. On the other hand, RJ Scaringe’s company has been showing several attractive features. Let’s take a look at them.
The 5-seater counts with three different battery packs of 105;135;180kWh, which are capable of making the truck different ranges, going from 230 miles to 400.
According to Rivian, R1T can tow over 11,000 pounds, which is quite a good number. Each one of the versions of the truck offers a different torque. The 105 kWh is 560Nm, while the other two 1,120Nm. The two bigger battery packs provide more than 700hp.
On acceleration, all versions can achieve 60 mph in less than 5 seconds, and the top speed is close to 125 mph.
Rivian can offer more space than Ford, once its storage space counts with two spots that have over 300L of room, these are the Trunk (330L) and Gear Tunnel (350 L).
When it comes to modern technology, Rivian takes the lead. It has a Level 3 autonomy devices, and incredible self driving features. The carmaker’s system of self-driving includes radars, ultrasonic sensors, high precision GPs, and lidar as well. Based on this, the automaker will follow the next steps to determine if the driver is paying attention to the road:
- Connect, by vehicle, to a wireless device of the vehicle occupant.
- Receive, by vehicle, signal from a wireless device indicative of activity of the vehicle occupant, and processing the signal to determine the level of awareness of the vehicle occupant.
- Determine whether the level of awareness of the vehicle occupant satisfies a threshold.
- Generate, by vehicle, an alert based upon whether the level of awareness of the vehicle occupant satisfies the threshold.
Also, the R1T presents a kitchen camp, which is very appropriate for customers that look for a more adventurous trip. Others can find it unnecessary and feel that it is only there to make the car more expensive.
Summing up, Rivian comes to the market to dispute a place with the best EVs, like Tesla, and take over the spot from already well-established ICEs, like Ford F-150.
Do you think it will be able to do it?