There are a lot of full-size all-electric pickups that you can currently choose from. If you are willing to invest north of $60,000, you can get yourself a Ford F-150 Lightening, Rivian R1T, or the stellar GMC Hummer EV. These trucks offer an electric powertrain and a bucket load of modern tech and features wrapped in the traditional body of a utility vehicle. But, if you want your electric pickup to have quirky futuristic styling, you could wait for the Tesla Cybertruck that’s likely to debut by the end of this year.
But Tesla isn’t the only EV maker known to cook up unconventional-looking cars. Kia has been coming up with some brilliantly styled electric vehicles, such as the EV6. But the just-revealed EV9 SUV completely knocks it out of the park. Its crisp and edgy exterior profile is second to none. This makes us wonder what an all-electric pickup from the Korean brand would look like. Since Kia has no plans to make one yet, we decided to create one ourselves!
Our in-house digital artist Timothy Adry Emmanuel has created this stunning rendering of what an electric pickup based on the 2024 Kia EV9 SUV would look like. Its striking exterior profile surely puts the Tesla Cybertruck on notice. Let’s take a closer look.
EV9 Pickup Concept Gets A Stylish And Futuristic Exterior Design
Kia plans to have eleven new electric vehicles on sale by 2026. The EV6 and the EV9 SUVs are part of this electrification strategy. If the Korean brand brings in an electric pickup like Emmanuel’s rendering, it will fit right into its revised line-up. When Tesla debuts the Cybertruck, it will be a unique electric pickup truck. But if Kia had a pickup truck like our digital imagination in its line-up, it would surely be Cybertruck’s greatest rival.
The rendering takes a lot of inspiration from the EV9 SUV concept and adds a few styling bits from the production version. The face of the truck has a bold look. The headlights look precisely like what you see on the original concept by Kia. But the grille is slightly more aggressive, as is the front bumper. There are two large air ducts to feed in cool air to the brakes. And a thick skid plate pokes from underneath the vehicle.
The design of the side profile is consistent with the production-spec EV9 SUV. The swelled-up front and rear quarter panels look pretty cool with the black highlights. The stylish wheel with low-profile tires and the painted brake calipers that peak from behind them hint that this is a performance model of the truck. Emmanuel has also given this truck flush door handles which look pretty amazing.
The rear profile carries a much more constrained look. The taillights resemble precisely the ones on the production-spec EV9 SUV. The tailgate has a sculpted design with a modern look, and the rear bumper isn’t as aggressive as the front one. With a 5-foot bed and a double-cab layout, this EV9 pickup is versatile for carrying cargo and practical for ferrying pᴀssengers too!
2024 Kia EV9 Pickup Concept Has The Power To Match Tesla Cybertruck
The new EV9 SUV will be available with a variety of powertrain options. Base models get a single-motor rear-wheel drive configuration with a 215-horsepower electric motor. These versions can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 8.2 seconds. Extended Range models use a bigger battery pack with a 201 hp motor and a slower 60 mph time of 9.4 seconds. The dual-motor versions pack in 379 horsepower, and Kia says that these can clock 60 mph from a standstill in 5.3 seconds.
Tesla is also going to offer the Cybertruck in three configurations: single motor, dual motor, and the top-spec with three motors. The EV maker hasn’t released the power figures yet, but it says that the models with the single-motor rear-wheel drive setup will sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds. Trims with dual motors and all-wheel drive will reduce this time to 4.5 seconds. Triple motor versions will be the most aggressive versions of the Cybertruck, reaching 60 mph in 2.9 seconds.
EV9’s standard powertrain line-up isn’t going to cut it for our concept truck for it to stand toe to toe with Cybertruck’s performance. We would instead pick the electric drivetrain from the EV9 GT that Kia promised to bring in 2025. Details are still sketchy, but it’s likely to get a more powerful version of the EV6 GT’s powertrain. The high-performance model of the mid-size EV gets a dual-motor all-wheel drive setup with 576 horsepower and the ability to reach 60 mph in 3.2 seconds.
Adding the EV9’s Burst Mode to this setup, which boosts the torque output from the electric motors for a specific duration, would be enough to make this pickup truck smoke the Cybertruck on the drag strip.
Kia EV9 Pickup Concept Has All The Latest Tech
Leaked images show that the Cybertruck will continue with Tesla’s signature minimalistic cabin layout. It will get a regular steering wheel and a giant 17-inch central touchscreen on its dashboard. The design is modern and clutter-free, but it’s been around for so long that it’s started to feel underwhelming. The Cybertruck will get all the tech we usually see in a Tesla. This would include the Standard and the Advanced Autopilot system. The EV maker will also offer the full-self driving capability with this truck at an extra cost.
If Kia decides to make a pickup truck like this, it’ll load all the latest tech out of the production-spec EV9 SUV. It will ride on Hyundai group’s E-GMP platform, which means it should offer plenty of room inside the cab alongside a good cargo area in the truck bed. It might also add the 180-degree swivel seats from the SUV, which would be epic for a pickup truck.
The EV9 SUV gets a giant 12.3-inch screen divided into two modules for the instrument panel and the central infotainment unit. The dashboard layout and modern and crisp, and Kia has added physical ʙuттons for climate control. This arrangement would be perfect for the EV9-based pickup truck. It’ll also get Kia’s advanced driver ᴀssistance systems which can do most things that a Tesla autopilot does.
2024 Kia EV9 Price And Launch Date
Official pricing for the Kia EV9 isn’t out yet. But we estimate the base Standard Range RWD model to have an MSRP of $55,000 when the electric SUV goes on sale in late 2023. Kia has suggested that a performance EV9 GT will also be introduced at a later date. One that we expect to retail around $70,000. It will evenly match with rivals like the Rivian R1S and undercut the Tesla Model X by a huge margin. If Kia ever comes up with a pickup truck based on this SUV, it’ll likely have similar pricing. This will make it a decent alternative to all-electric pickups such as the F-150 Lightening, R1T, and the Tesla Cybertruck.
