One of the golden and perhaps most frustrating rules in life is that you can’t possibly have it all. That’s not to say we should stop trying, though.
Like people from all over the world, the creatives at the Wolfgang LA agency spent the initial 2020 lockdown doing stuff they wouldn’t have otherwise tried. No word if that included sourdough baking or growing avocados, but it definitely included a little dabbling in the automotive world. With help from people for whom they did creative ads before, the team at Wolfgang – the newly formed IP division, to be more exact – came up with the most badass, all-electric truck possible.
It’s called the Thundertruck and it looks like Tesla’s Cybertruck and Batman’s Tumbler had a baby. It is a fully-transformable, fully-electric multi-purpose truck that “sticks out like a green thumb” and was designed with the ultimate outside in mind. It’s a shocking sight thanks to its hulking size and sharp angles, but it’s ultimately practical and green, and would deliver reliability and outstanding performance wherever you might take it. At least in theory it would.
Perhaps the good news is that it could actually become a reality. Speaking with Fast Company, Wolfgang founders Colin Jeffery and Mike Geiger say that the Thundertruck was designed as a functional model, with help from experts from the auto industry. It represents the realization that most electric trucks planned for the next couple of years are nothing but variations on their ICE (internal combustion engine) counterparts – that is to say, the same design, but with an electric powertrain.
Photo: Wolfgang LA
Maybe it’s time for a revolution, both in terms of design and functionality. Maybe it’s time for the Thundertruck. Strike that: it’s definitely time for the Thundertruck, but whether we’ll actually get it is another story.
“Thundertruck is not your grandfather’s truck,” Wolfgang says. “In fact, it’s nobody’s truck just yet. But its innovative design will soon give drivers and passengers an entirely new level of versatility and functionality.”
The Thundertruck has all-terrain capabilities and lends itself to endless customization, whether that means a pop-up tent in the bed, lateral extensions for storage, the loading ramp for a couple of bikes or an ATV, or the Range Extender Unit that virtually turns the 4x4 beast into an even more impressive 6x6 one. The Thundertruck is built as a go-anywhere type of vehicle, from the actual off-road capabilities to the facilities it offers, and the fact that it comes with integrated solar panels.
Indeed, the awning of the truck is shaped like fold-out bat wings and covered in solar panels. What use is a good truck if it can go anywhere but runs out of battery as soon as it gets there, Wolfgang asks. Range anxiety is effectively dealt with by means of this solar panel system, adding juice to the battery and helping to run appliances when stationary.
Photo: Wolfgang LA
Packed with state-of-the-art tech, the Thundertruck would have a holographic information display and its own drone companion, which, we assume, would be used for recon and scoping out the next basecamp. It would be a comfortable, almost luxurious and complete off-roading rig with extra green credentials, and it would also make for excellent bragging rights.
The Range Extender Unit, perhaps one of the most surprising features of this surprising e-truck, works as a portable battery pack that can turn the Thundertruck into a 6x6 vehicle, while offering increased payload and towing capacity. The unit adds 36 inches (91.5 cm) in length to the truck, and some 1,440 pounds (653 kg), but also extends the range from 400 miles (644 km) to 659 miles (1,060 km) per charge.
Wolfgang says the 4x4 truck would have 800 hp with 800 lb-ft (1,084 Nm) torque, and 940 hp with 1,200 lb-ft (1,627 Nm) torque in the 6x6 configuration. According to the agency founders, the unit could detach and work as a “Segway-like companion vehicle.”
“Similar to a Transformer, we wanted the vehicle to expand and contract, adapting to the environment it’s in,” says Jeffery explains. They also wanted it to be badass-looking, to prove that EVs aren’t always bland and uninspired. The brutalist design offers an intentional contrast to how silent the truck would be in motion.
Photo: Wolfgang LA
While there are no concrete plans to build a truck like this one, Wolfgang believes it would be feasible – and for a starting price of $70,000, no less. Should that day ever come, the agency has already prepared an ad campaign, and it includes taglines like “It’s not for everyone. We couldn’t possibly make that many.” Fingers crossed they make at least one.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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