Americans love pickup trucks. The mighty Ford F-150 has been the best-selling vehicle in the US for 35 years, and last year the Dodge Ram and Chevrolet Silverado placed second and third. The basic design of this quintessential American vehicle hasn't changed much since, well, ever, but an Indiana company thinks it has found a better way: Make it electric.

Now now, stop giggling. An electric pickup makes a lot of sense, which is why Elon Musk plans to build one eventually. But this isn't about him. It's about Workhorse Group, the same outfit that built that wild hybrid drone-slinging UPS van. It just unveiled the W-15 Electric Pickup Truck, an attractive and surprisingly quick truck it plans to start selling to fleet operators next year.

This isn't an electric like the Tesla Model S. It's an electric like the Chevrolet Volt. When the big battery—60 kilowatt hours—under the floor goes flat after 80 miles or so, a three-cylinder BMW engine under the hood kicks in to generate the electricity. It's a clever application of series hybrid tech, because a pickup provides plenty of space to stash the extra kit, and the added weight isn't so big a penalty. Added bonus? The battery and range extender can provide electricity for power tools and work lights.

Workhorse Group

As with all electrics, this thing isn't cheap—$52,500 before any incentives or tax credits. That's 20 grand more than you'd pay for a base model F-150 with four doors, and just $7,700 cheaper than a top-of-the-line Ford F-150 Limited. But you're thinking like a civilian, not a fleet operator. The higher up-front cost of an electric vehicle is offset by a lower operating cost. "For the first time in 108 years, someone has invented a truck that's cheaper than a gasoline truck over its life," says company CEO Steve Burns. He says Duke Energy, Portland General Electric, Southern California Power Authority, Clean Fuels Ohio, and the city of Orlando, Florida, have expressed interest in his truck.