There's been a flurry of activity in the world of pickup trucks lately as Ford debuts the all-new 2021 F-150, Lordstown Motors shows off its pure-electric Endurance model, and Ram teases the Hellcat-powered Rebel TRX. Heck, even on the other side of the world, the Filipino market just saw the introduction of the current thirteenth-gen F-150 there.

Now, EV startup Rivian is piling on with a promotional video depicting the forthcoming Rivian R1T electric truck climbing, blasting, and sliding over mixed terrain. It's a brand of abuse that Rivian's battery-powered pickup is especially well-suited for, given its powertrain, but also shows just how robust an electric truck can be.

The configuration of that powertrain, which encompasses four independent wheel motors, might one day become the norm in the electric truck space, but for now, it's an outlier, and it allows the R1T infinite latitude when it comes to vectoring torque both front-to-rear and side-to-side. That unique talent is what facilitates the R1T's awesome "tank turn" trick, demonstrated in a video late last year, and it's what makes it so drivable beyond the limits of adhesion.

The Rivian's tight, precise wheel control and rugged underbody protection measures also come in handy climbing over boulders,as this video demonstrates, marking the R1T as a very promising future offering in the off-road vehicle space.

EV and truck fans had been looking forward to a December, 2020 production start date for the Rivian R1T, but unfortunately, the global pandemic has thrown a wrench in those plans; Rivian has since pushed the start of production back to mid-2021.

When it finally does hit the market, the Rivian R1T is expected to wear a price below $70,000, packing some of the highest-capacity production vehicle battery packs in history, at 105 kWh, 135 kWh, and 180 kWh. The largest of those will deliver more than 400 miles of driving range on a full charge, which is commendable for any EV, let alone a quad-motor pickup truck.