Alpha Motor Corporation said earlier this year that it intended to finally have a running prototype of its Wolf electric pickup truck ready to go this year. And here it seems to be. The company released a video of the truck in motion, though you’ll only see it after an awkward, try-hard scene of a mother and daughter talking about a drawing of a truck and stuff about having heart. With that being said, the truck, which has always looked attractive, still looks sharp in the running footage.
The fact that the company does have a running prototype does give us hope that the Wolf is heading toward production after spending quite some time as a highly attractive render (among a concerningly large number of them) and as a static design model. And based on previous announcements from Alpha, the running test truck was built with the help of Michigan-based prototyping company UHI Group, which has previously worked on Canoo vehicles. The company says more test vehicles are in the works, too.
What keeps our hopes quite restrained is that Alpha continues to be mum on production details and without much further information about the truck’s specs. General specs from the video are similar, but not exactly the same as those previously: battery packs with an estimated 65 to 85 kWh with at least 275 miles of range, available dual-motor all-wheel drive, single-motor power of 284 horsepower (212 kW), top speed of 125 mph and DC fast charging.
Really, we almost get more new info on the Alpha from the diagram flashed up during the video. It shows the old-school body-on-frame chassis design with more detail than before. It shows the trucks independent front suspension, as well as the leaf-spring rear end. It seems, looking between the frame diagram and the running footage, that the rear motor and transmission ride along on the solid rear axle, and there’s a protective shield around the motor gear. We would be very curious if it’s a version of Magna’s eBeam solid axle powertrain.
Close examination of the running footage also suggests that this prototype is a rear-drive example. We can’t spot any driveshafts running to the front wheels amidst the control arms and steering gear.
So we’re left hopeful that Alpha’s fun-looking little pickup will reach production, but we optimism is still very cautious. Alpha is taking reservations, and it claims to have 11,000 so far. It’s aiming to price the Wolf between $36,000 and $46,000 depending on configuration, at least according to the reservation site.
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