I know a lot of city kids think trucks are some obnoxious luxury good, but they're basically a functional requirement in most of the (very large) country.
Which is why new pickup truck models are so often not fit-for-purpose as a working truck of any kind. Like an EV F-150.
I should hope there is. The battery is good for 400-500K miles. The first real maintenance (which is still just flushing the coolant) happens at 200K miles. These trucks will be easier to keep on the road than you think, they're dead simple.
A van is almost always a better choice if you're actually looking at functionality. Shielding from the elements is way more useful than some mythical ground clearance benefit that you will never use.
Sure, a very small number of people go offroad and need that clearance--however, the number is small relative to the number of people who could get away with a van.
Spoken like someone who hasn't lived past the suburbs.
I needed some plumbing work done last winter and had to hire someone new because my preferred plumber couldn't access my road with his van.
The lack of AWD/4x4, lack of ground clearance, inability to tow are all massive drawbacks for several lines of business. Tonneau or hard covers and enclosed trailers take care of shielding from the elements just fine.
https://highways.dot.gov/safety/other/unpaved-roads-safety-n...
Vermont, New Mexico and Colorado notably all have more than 70% of their road network unpaved. 80% of all tribal land roads are unpaved.
Hint: most of the trucks are NOT in the rural areas due to the fact that the rural areas, by definition, do not have that much population. Also, rural areas tend to have old beater cars because gas prices are an issue and pickup trucks generally get quite a bit worse gas mileage than a basic sedan.
The problem is that the vast majority of pickup trucks are, in fact, being sold in the suburbs which don't have any of the problems with having to go off of a road.
Maybe not where you live but there are many parts of the US where you really do want significant ground clearance regardless of vehicle type. The ubiquity of Subarus in several regions of the US isn't because people are fond of Subarus as an automotive brand.
High ground clearance isn't about "going offroad".
My VW T5 van has as much ground clearance as the Subaru Forester / Outback.
"Offroad" is 60% of the state 50+% of the year
This could be said anywhere with snow, by time the DOT repairs the frost heave after winter its winter again.
Why is it laughable? I'm not following your argument.