2022 is turning into a transformative year for the American pickup truck. First there was the rebirth of the compact pickup with the Hyundai Santa Cruz and Ford Maverick. Now, battery-powered trucks like the GMC Hummer EV, Ford F-150 Lightning and Rivian R1T have arrived. Hummer production is still ramping up but Ford and Rivian are delivering trucks in quantity, which means it’s time to see how they stack up against each other.

Full-size pickup trucks have been the top-selling vehicle type in the U.S. market for decades with the Ford F-series leading the segment for 44 consecutive years. In 1978, trucks were still primarily for work, but in 2022, a large number also double as family vehicles. Single-cab, bench-seaters were, over time, supplanted by extended cabs and ultimately four-door crew cabs. According to Ford, more than 80% of full-size trucks sold today are crews. 

Both the Rivian and Ford both look like traditional pickups, but they’re not the same underneath.

While many non-truck vehicles over the last 30 years have shifted to unit-body architecture, the emergence of the electric “skateboard” platform has meant a shift to a new kind of body-on-frame. The F-150 has always been body-on-frame and so is the Lightning, with its new frame now housing a 131-kWh battery pack (a 98-kWh pack is standard). The R1T’s frame is much larger, stretching to the full width of the truck, and houses a 135-kWh pack. (An optional smaller pack is coming soon).

But that’s where things start to diverge. Ford opted to keep the separate cab and bed structures of the gas F-150, reusing most of the same stampings except for outer skin. Rivian has a unified cab and bed similar to the Honda Ridgeline and the upcoming Chevrolet Silverado EV. The Rivian is also significantly smaller. At 217.1 inches long, the R1T is close to a midsize truck and, in fact, is almost identical to the Jeep Gladiator size-wise. While they have a lot in common, the more time spent with them, the clearer it becomes they are targeted at different buyers. 

While automakers love to pitch the go-anywhere, do anything capabilities of trucks and SUVs, the reality is that most of them spend the vast majority of their life on the road. Whether being used as a daily driver, or a work truck, most of the “off-road” use is limited to unpaved rural roads and gravel driveways. Thus, decent ride quality is quite important on modern trucks. 

Both the Ford and Rivian feature four-wheel-independent suspensions with similar front control arm setups. At the rear, the Lightning has semi-trailing arms while the R1T has a more sophisticated 5-link layout. The most notable difference is the springs. The Lightning has classic steel coil springs while the Rivian has an air spring setup at all four corners that allows for adjustable ride height. 

Those that have driven old-school trucks with nothing in the bed will be familiar with how squirrelly and bouncey they can get when driven on slippery surfaces. While modern crew cab trucks have better weight balance of about 60% front and 40% when empty, standard cabs can be closer to 70/30. The big heavy batteries slung down the middle of the frame means these electric pickups are about 50/50 when empty, making them much easier to drive. 

Despite being significantly larger, the Ford is about 500 to 700 pounds lighter than the Rivian depending on the configuration and equipment. Both are very quiet thanks to the electric powertrains and an emphasis on smoothing out the contours to eliminate wind noise. 

On smooth pavement, there’s not much difference in ride quality, but as the surface gets rougher the Rivian transmits more of the road texture and noise into the cabin while the Lightning feels a bit more supple. Both are shockingly quick and have enough torque to chirp the tires even pulling nearly 10,000-pound trailers. The Rivian’s 835 horsepower will get it to 60 mph in 3 seconds, but even with a “mere” 580 hp, the Ford gets there in just over 4 seconds. Both are faster than the speed king of gas-powered pickups, the Ram 1500 TRX.

Our on-pavement verdict: While the Rivian is marginally quicker to accelerate, the superior ride quality of the Ford on rough pavement gives it the edge in real-world usability. 

Both of these trucks have electric motors at both axles, providing four-wheel-drive on demand. But aside from the size, this is where some of the biggest functional divergence comes in. The Lightning is very much a mainstream F-150, lacking the specialized off-road modifications found on a Raptor or even Tremor model. 

It does include a standard electronic locking rear differential which helps when grappling for grip on loose surfaces. However, it has only 8.9-inches of ground clearance. The Lightning does fine on muddy trails getting to a cabin, or moving across farm fields and the 775 lb-ft of torque makes climbing steep hills a breeze. But with 145.5-inches of wheelbase, this just isn’t a rock crawler that can chase Jeep Wranglers down the Rubicon Trail. 

The Rivian is very different. While we are pitting against the Lightning here because they are both battery-powered pickups, its real competition is the Jeep Gladiator. The Lightning has one motor for each axle, while the R1T has four, one for each wheel. This allows each wheel to be individually controlled with instant torque response as needed. 

The air spring suspension allows the Rivian’s ground clearance to be varied between 7.9-inches for its parking mode all the way up to 14.9-inches. In combination with its shorter wheelbase and overhangs at both ends, it has much steeper approach, breakover and departure angles. It can also ford through 42 inches of water compared to the 24-inch limit for the Lightning. The R1T’s 35.5-degree approach angle is a bit short of the 43.4-degrees available in the Gladiator Rubicon, but the 26.4 and 30-degree breakover and departure angles beat the Jeep. 

Our off-road verdict: No contest here, the Rivian R1T was created as an adventure/lifestyle vehicle and tough terrain is where it truly shines. 

Ford made a conscious decision in designing the Lightning that it would be first and foremost an F-150. Ford hasn’t led the truck sales race for four decades by not understanding its customers. 

Apart from the larger 15.5-inch center touchscreen adopted from the Mustang Mach-E, the rest of the cabin is exactly what can be found in any other current generation F-150. That includes the available, nearly fold-flat max recline front seats, the same fold-down shift lever, the same physical controls that can be operated using work gloves and the same huge crew cab. There’s ample room for 3 burly construction workers to sit in the back seat. 

The Rivian’s Tesla-style minimalist approach to design with a dearth of physical buttons and switches is much more modern. The overall look and feel is very premium, in keeping this truck’s pricing. There is real wood trim on the dash and the vegan leather on the seats and other surfaces looks and feels luxurious. There’s a large 15-inch central touchscreen and smaller display in front of the driver for the gauges. 

With most controls buried in the touchscreen interface, some functions are challenging to get to, but basics like wiper control and shifting are on stalks where they belong. The shorter wheelbase and body length mostly come out of the rear seat, but there’s still more than adequate legroom back there. Being slightly narrower also means there is less shoulder room for three in the back. 

Both Launch edition Rivian and the Lightning Platinum have full panoramic glass roofs, but only the Lightning offers a panel that opens to provide some fresh air. The R1T’s doesn’t open.

Our cabin verdict: While the Rivian looks a bit more modern and premium than the Ford, the Lightning is much more functional, especially for those that plan to use it as a working truck. 

Just as the R1T looks more modern inside, the technology also feels more modern in many respects. That doesn’t necessarily mean it works better. The graphics on the center screen look pretty and changing drive modes shows the truck moving into different scenes. However, Rivian has built all of its software from scratch and the R1T is its first product. As you might expect, there are some bugs and occasional glitches and lags. 

It is better than it was when we first drove it eight months ago, but it still has some way to go. For example, the navigation map tiles can sometimes take up to 30 seconds to load. 

Like Tesla, Rivian has declined to incorporate support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. It does have built-in apps for Spotify and Tune-in which is fine if you use those particular services. If you prefer streaming from other apps, you’re stuck with Bluetooth. Speaking of Bluetooth, Rivian includes a removable speaker that sits low in the front of the console for use at the beach or campsite. 

The R1T features a full suite of external sensors including 11 cameras and 5 radars. As this is written, Rivian’s Driver+ assistance system provides adaptive cruise control and lane centering, but it’s not yet a hands-free system. On the highway, the system keeps the truck in the lane, but it does still wander between the lines more than the Ford and on curves it can sometimes drift out without a tight grip on the wheel. 

The Lightning uses the same SYNC 4A infotainment system found in the Mach-E. The top two-thirds of the screen is dedicated to the current application such as media, navigation or energy use. Below that is a carousel of most recently used app cards. Ford has clearly learned from its problems with MyFord Touch a decade ago and kept the interface clean and provided large touch targets. CarPlay and Android Auto are supported with or without a USB cable. SYNC 4’s performance is smooth and lag-free. 

Ford’s hands-free BlueCruise highway driving assist system still isn’t as good GM’s Super Cruise, but within the limits of what it does, it works reasonably well and does a better job of keeping the truck centered in the lane than Rivian’s Driver+. 

Both trucks have solid audio systems with great sound that takes advantage of the quieter environment of an EV, Ford using B&O Play while Rivian uses Meridian. For voice control, Rivian relies on Amazon Alexa voice services. Ford also has built-in Alexa support now, but also uses Ford’s own system and the assistants from Google and Apple if a phone is paired. At any moment in time, commands can be issued to change temperature, navigate, play audio or other functions by saying any of four corresponding wake words. 

Our tech verdict: Rivian has pretty graphics but unfortunately, its systems don’t always work as intended. Ford’s setup might be more traditional and less visual, but the Lightning offers more functionality at this time and generally works better. 

A pickup truck is first and foremost a utility vehicle. It’s designed to haul stuff and tow and go places. Both of these trucks tackle these challenges based on their design biases. As stated previously, the Lightning is above all an F-150 and does everything an F-150 does and mostly more. 

Trucks have a bed to put stuff in, but the F-150’s is a foot longer and significantly wider as well. It has nearly twice the volume of the R1T’s bed. Depending on the configuration, the Lightning has a payload capacity of up to 2,200 pounds although the Platinum trim that was tested is limited to 1,660 with all of the luxury gear consuming some of that payload. The R1T is limited to 1,464 pounds, which is better than the Gladiator but unimpressive compared to the Ford Ranger. 

When connecting a trailer, the Rivian has a slight edge of 11,000-pounds max towing compared to 10,000 for the Ford. Both trucks are extremely capable with heavy trailers and barely feel like anything is connected. The downside of towing with an electric truck is that range may fall by anywhere from 25-50% depending on the shape and weight of the trailer. Since most charging stations aren’t yet configured with pull-through charging bays, this may require disconnecting the trailer to charge on long trips. 

Thanks to the absence of an engine up front, electric trucks also offer the ability to have lockable enclosed storage. The R1T has an 11.1 cubic-foot frunk while the Lightning provides 14 cubic feet. However, the Rivian’s front fascia is fixed in place, while the panel that would be the grille on a gas F-150 is attached to the hood. When open, the Ford has a far lower liftover height to use the frunk. 

Ford’s smart hitch and load sensors allows drivers to monitor how much payload they have and the tongue weight of the trailer to prevent overloading, but Rivian doesn’t have an equivalent system, but it does have some things Ford doesn’t.

The unit body architecture of the R1T designers to incorporate an additional 11.7 cubic foot gear tunnel spanning the width of the truck between the cab and bed. This is ideal for storing longer items or even the optional slide-out camp kitchen with an electric induction stove and sink. The Rivian also has a built-in air compressor in the bed to enable tires to be reinflated after air downing for an off-road trek. 

The Rivian has a pair of 120V AC outlets in the bed as well, but the Lightning’s ProPower onboard system comes standard with 10 120V outlets and 2.4-kW of power available. Four outlets plus a pair of USB ports are in the frunk, two more in the cab and four in the bad. The optional 9.6-kW system also adds a 240V outlet in the bed for more power-hungry tools on a work site. The Lightning’s bidirectional power capability can also power a home for several days if the power goes out. 

Our utility verdict: Very much a case of different tools for different jobs, the Lightning is very much targeted at traditional truck buyers while the Rivian is for adventurers and each is optimized as such. The gear tunnel is great but the Ford’s easy-to-use frunk and power output capabilities again give it a slight edge. 

When it comes to value, the winner might seem obvious, but as in the other categories, the answer is less simple. The standard range Lightning Pro starts at just $40,000 while the R1T starts at $67,500. However, most buyers will probably prefer the extended-range Ford with up to 320 miles of range. 

Unfortunately, the $50,000 Lightning Pro with the bigger battery is only offered to commercial customers despite the fact that it is well equipped enough that a lot of retail customers would probably be more than happy with it. The extended range XLT bumps the price up to $72,500 and a loaded Platinum will be over $93,000. The $85,000 R1T Launch edition is sold out, but even the Adventure trim can be optioned up to prices comparable to the top-end Ford. 

Our value verdict: A draw unless you happen to need a basic work truck, in which case that Lightning Pro is the only choice. As luxury trucks, which is the better value depends on how you plan to use your truck.

With four category wins for the Ford to one for the Rivian and one tie, this might seem like a blowout for the Lightning. But despite both being electric pickups, it really comes down to what you want to use the truck for. Considering the job to be done, pick the right tool and buyers are unlikely to be disappointed. The era of the electric pickup truck is here and off to a bright start.

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