Though it was heavily delayed, the Tesla Cybertruck quickly became the best-selling electric pickup once it finally arrived. While it’s still selling, the Tesla has been overtaken by a legacy brand’s electric truck, dropping into the number-two spot behind the Ford F-150 Lightning.
Tesla saw 7,126 registrations in the first quarter of 2025, while the Lightning had 7,913. Chevy finished third with the Silverado EV, followed by the GMC Sierra EV, Rivian, and GMC Hummer. The truck’s 2024 sales numbers far exceeded the figures from 2023, due mostly to the fact that it was only available for the last two months of 2023.
While Ford may be celebrating the Lightning’s win over Tesla, it’s not like The Blue Oval is moving tons of the electric pickup. Just under 8,000 units for a quarter isn’t a runaway success by any measure. Ford CEO Jim Farley acknowledged the hurdles, saying that for large electric trucks and SUVs, “the economics are unresolvable.”
The challenges come with range and capability, which require large, expensive battery packs, making the trucks way more expensive. Farley said, “These customers have very demanding use cases for an electric vehicle. They tow, they go off-road, they take long road trips. These vehicles have worse aerodynamics and they’re very heavy, which means very large and expensive batteries.”
Stellantis has been grappling with these issues for a while, leading it to delay the Ram 1500 REV and Ramcharger until 2026 or 2027 while it works to address the challenges.
[Images: Ford, Tesla, Rivian]
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