According to Bloomberg's unofficial sources, Nissan soon might also join the growing number of manufacturers that are working on a full-size electric pickup for the U.S. market.
The Japanese company reportedly is in talks with Hercules Electric Vehicles startup (founded in 2018). Hercules would like to offer a "rugged luxury" pickup called Hercules Alpha (from mid-2022).
Nissan would buy "a battery-electric powertrain" from Hercules Electric Vehicles to use in the EV version of its Titan model, while Hercules Electric Vehicles would use Titan parts in its project. Now we understand why the Hercules Alpha was so similar to the Nissan Titan in the visualizations.
Anyway, if the two companies sign the deal, we can add two new electric pickups in the pipeline - Nissan Titan EV and probably a niche, luxury model from Hercules.
Of course, the rumor about the Nissan-Hercules deal raises tons of new questions, like why Nissan is not making its all-electric pickup in-house, especially since it has tons of experience with electrification.
The other thing is that Nissan's sales in the U.S. are falling. According to the article, in 2019, Titan sales declined 38%, and during the nine months of 2020, it declined a further 24% year-over-year to 19,403.
The relatively low sales volume (30-times lower than Ford F-Series at 589,034, also down 11% year-over-year) might provide us an answer as to why it's not worth it for Nissan to develop an electric version in-house.
The other question is whether Hercules Electric Vehicles really has the tech to electrify pickups?
See also
Gallery: Hercules Alpha
Source: Bloomberg