Nissan is reportedly in talks with a little-known US electric pickup startup called Hercules to build an electric version of its Titan pickup truck.
It would be joining Tesla, Ford, Rivian, and others into electrifying the important segment in the US.
Bloomberg reports that Nissan is in talks with Hercules Electric Vehicles:
“The Japanese automaker is considering buying a battery-electric powertrain from Hercules Electric Vehicles for its Titan pickup and sharing parts for the startup’s own truck in a prospective strategic partnership, said the people, who declined to be named.”
Hercules Electric Vehicles is a 2-year-old startup based out of Michigan.
It was started by 3 Detroit engineers with experience at the big 3 and tier one automotive suppliers in the region.
According to their website, they are working on their own pickup truck, the Hercules Alpha, with the following specs:
- 1000 HP 4-motor drive system
- 300+ miles EV range
- 0-60 MPH in 4 seconds
- Top Speed 120 MPH
- Advanced torque-vectoring AWD
- Superior Handling
- DC Fast Charge Standard
- Zero radius turning
- 12,500 Trailering Weight
- 2,500 lb. Payload
- 10,400 lb. GVWR
The new report says that no agreement with Nissan has been signed yet and that the talks are not necessarily going to lead to an electric Titan.
A partnership between a major automaker like Nissan and a smaller electric pickup truck startup wouldn’t be new in the industry considering we have seen Ford partner with Rivian and GM partner with Nikola – though the latter deal might not go through.
Electrek’s Take
Nissan’s Titan pickup sales have been falling in the US and represent only a small fraction of the giant pickup market in the US.
I expect that the electrification of the segment is going to create a massive shakeup and the Japanese automaker could take advantage of it to gain market share.
However, it looks to me like they are late to the game if they are only now talking to a small startup about helping them build an electric powertrain.
But that’s on par for Nissan when it comes to electrification. They let go of a giant lead after launching the Leaf and they are only now coming up with the Ariya.
I would have thought that an electric Titan would have been in the works for years already and they would have their own electric powertrain for it, but it doesn’t sound like that’s the case.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
