Hello everyone. I grew up in rural Nebraska working a lawn service with my dad from the time I was 5 until I moved away. I also worked construction and/or ranching in the summers through college. Trucks everywhere in the farming/ranching community. 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 for my first truck, now driving a 2011. Both were very base models. No frills, gadgets, no power seats, etc. I didn't need those things then and honestly, still really don't.
However, now that I'm older and teach high school, my vehicle is basically a commuter and I really only want or "need" a truck for the weekend trip to the lake, home improvement projects like running to Lowes for lumber, grabbing mulch in bulk, or even hauling some retaining wall stones, maybe helping a neighbor move, pick up some new furniture, or hauling trailers for one of the various clubs or sports teams at school. I'm ready for an upgrade and would be happy to finally get some of those bells and whistles I've passed on for so many years.
I've wanted an EV truck since before they were a thing. Rivian obviously came out quite a while back and was intriguing but I can't get past those headlights and the price tag. I really wanted Tesla to come out with something awesome because they've already got the charging station infrastructure and who didn't want a Tesla if you were going EV? Unfortunately, their reveal was a huge letdown. I'm ok with some change to the traditional truck look, but the lego Cybertruck was a bit much. The Ford Lightning checked a lot of the boxes I wanted in an EV truck. It looked like a traditional truck but had tons of cool features including the reverse charging option to power your home in a blackout. I feel like that almost needs to come standard with any future EV truck. They definitely set the bar there.
All that said, as a Dodge Ram owner since college, I really hoped that Dodge would up their game matching the best features already on the market with an EV style truck design that still looked like a truck but be in a class of its own. The concept was almost over the top for me, but it's really grown on me. The production model lost a lot of the aggressive body lines up front and some of unique features obviously tamed down the "radical" or "revolutionary" design. Between trying to limit costs in production and not alienating truck purists that might make the jump to EV...I get it. I'm still hoping for a happy in between version or some various Trim levels by the time it actually hits production in a couple of years that gives me features like the concept version's seats, seat track option, unique steering wheel, and even more EV style shaved door handles and muscle car body lines versus an ICE model with an EV powertrain. I guess time will tell.
Oh...and having all those jobs as a kid allowed me to buy and restore a 1969 Mustang with my dad who is a collision repair guy. I've got my old classic gas guzzler. Now it's time to get the futuristic EV. 😁
