When you look at lifted trucks for sale, you probably won’t see a lot of electric trucks as options, if any. The reason for this is actually pretty simple. Tires are the last gear on a truck’s drivetrain. When a truck gets lifted, one of the main reasons is for taller tires. To keep the correct gear ratio, the solution is to put in lower gears. But in most cases, there are no kits to swap gears in electric trucks.
Lifted Electric Trucks Lose Range
The lack of gear-swap kits for electric trucks like the Rivian is only one problem. Lifting a regular gas or diesel-powered truck and then adding larger tires generally means a significant loss of fuel economy. For those who do this, it’s likely not a big deal as you simply go fill up more often. But with an electric truck, loss of range is a big deal.
For example, if you own a Ford F-150 Lightning, you could use the same front strut spacers that an owner of a gas-powered F-150 would use. In stock form, the F-150 Lightning has a range of 230 miles. By installing a leveling kit with a larger set of tires, that range goes down to 186 miles. That’s a pretty big deal when you want to go as long as possible between charges.
Another issue is that the rear suspension of the F-150 Lightning is unique compared to the regular F-150. That means it will require an equally unique solution before a lift kit will be available. The Lightning uses an electric motor mounted in the rear for the rear wheels.
Pros and Cons of Lifted Trucks
There are various pros and cons of looking at lifted trucks for sale, whether they’re gas or electric. The purpose of a lifted truck can be anything from a more aggressive look to more ground clearance. Many owners lift their trucks simply to get taller tires on. Suspension lift kits are the most common, but they’re more expensive and more complicated than body lifts.
Due to the newness of electric trucks, there aren’t a lot of options out there for suspension lift kits. The other problem, as mentioned above, is there might not be a lot of demand for lifted electric trucks considering the loss of range. The other possibility is a leveling kit, which has been successfully used on the Ford F-150 Lightning at least.
Factory-Installed Lifts
If there is a demand for lifted electric trucks, there’s a good chance that the automakers might consider making off-road trims with factory-installed lifts. If that’s the case, then it’s possible that they can be engineered in a way where too much range isn’t lost. Most of the time a factory lift is only a few inches.
Another possibility is using a factory-installed adaptive air suspension with an adjustable height feature. The Rivian R1T already has one of these suspensions and can provide a ride height between 8.7 inches and 14.9 inches. The GMC Hummer EV pickup also includes one.
The bottom line is if you’re looking for lifted trucks for sale, you probably won’t find any electric ones.
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