ChargePoint CEO sees electric pickups winning over Americans

The largest vehicle charging network in the US is counting on electric pickup trucks to finally win over American drivers for EVs.

ChargePoint Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Pasquale Romano expects many businesses that maintain fleets of pickups will switch to electrics in the next few years, because they’re cheaper to maintain. And the workers driving those fleets will get hooked on their performance, Romano says.

“They’ll pull into the parking lot with their personal pickup truck, hang their stuff in the locker, and pick up the keys to the work truck," he said, in an interview. “You have a built-in test drive: ‘I drive one of these electric ones every day, and it’s awesome.’"

President Joe Biden’s plan to wean US drivers off fossil fuels requires massive investment in public charging stations. It’s still unclear, though, how the companies providing the service will make a profit when most of the time people are likely to charge their EVs at home.

Romano expects the arrival of electric pickups will drive up EV sales in parts of the country where they’ve previously struggled.

Tesla Inc. may begin shipping its Cybertruck later this year, while Ford Motor Co. says its electrified F-150 Lightning will hit the market in 2022.

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