Go Rhino E1 Review: Sturdy Power Boards With a Shallow Drop

Buy the Go Rhino E1 if you want a wide, sturdy step that disappears under the rocker panel when the doors are shut, and nobody who rides with you needs the step to sit low. Each side gets a 6 in aluminum board on two motors, triggered by magnets on the doors, with LED lights that come on when the boards deploy. It's well built and nothing plugs into the OBD port. The catch is height: owners measure the drop at only a couple of inches below the sill, so it works more like a fixed running board that hides away than like a drop step. Short riders get less help than they would from an AMP Research PowerStep, and tall drivers either love the step-up-and-sit or find themselves perched above the seat.

Two more things before you shop. RealTruck, which owns Go Rhino, now sells the E1 as the RealTruck VoltStep: its old E1 page redirects to the VoltStep page, which still lists Go Rhino as the brand. The Amazon listings are titled RealTruck Volt Power Running Boards, sold under the Go Rhino brand with Go Rhino part numbers, and several describe the kit as the E1 Electric Running Board Kit. And nearly all the owner evidence comes from 3rd gen Tundras. The boards are sold for the F-150, Ram 1500, Tacoma and Ranger too, but we have no owner record on those trucks, so treat the owner evidence here as Tundra evidence and the other trucks as fitment-checked only.

The short version

What works:

• Two motors per side, a board-length 6 in step and a solid, stable build.
• Magnetic door switches and a battery-powered harness, so the OBD port stays free and the truck's electronics aren't involved.
• An automatic safety stop that halts the board if something is in its path.
• Owners stop noticing the door magnets within weeks.

What to watch:

• A shallow drop: owners put the step only a couple of inches below the sill.
• No retract delay, owners say, so the boards fold away between shutting a front door and opening a rear one.
• A bypass switch that keeps the boards tucked in but, owners say, can't hold them out for washing the roof.
• Short wires and thin routing instructions, which turn the install into an afternoon of trim panels and carpet.

Which trucks and cabs it fits

Buy the listing for your exact truck and cab. Go Rhino sells one E1 kit per truck and cab, Amazon lists them the same way, and bed length doesn't matter for a step. Most kits come in two finishes, textured black powder coat (part numbers ending PC) and protective bedliner coating (ending T). We confirmed each fitment on the listing itself, and the table under the score panel carries the part numbers and notes.

On the 3rd gen Tundra, the Crew Cab (CrewMax) and Double Cab listings both read 2022-2025. Neither title mentions hybrids; Go Rhino told one hybrid owner the E1 works on the hybrid, so ask the seller to confirm for your truck before you order. On the F-150, one Crew Cab listing and one SuperCab listing each read 2015-2025, so a single part spans the 13th-generation (Gen13) and 14th-generation (Gen14) trucks. The Ram 1500 has Crew Cab and Quad Cab listings for 2019-2025; like AMP's, they don't say DT or Classic, so we list them under the DT, and Ram 1500 Classic owners should confirm with RealTruck first.

The 4th gen Tacoma Double Cab listings read 2024-2025, and the 3rd gen Tacoma Double Cab listing 2016-2023. The Ranger Crew Cab listing reads 2019-2025, which spans the previous Ranger as well as the 6th generation that arrived for 2024; RealTruck's own product photos are labeled with that part number on a 2024 Ranger, but confirm with the seller for a 2024 or later truck. E1 listings exist for the Silverado and Sierra 1500 and for the Colorado and Canyon, but none we could read names the years and cab, so those rows are search links: check fit for your truck. We found no E1 listing for the Maverick.

Some Tundra kits come in two versions, and RealTruck doesn't explain the difference. Owners describe one with two brackets per side, both motorized, and one with a third, unpowered bracket in the middle for support. One CrewMax owner chose the two-bracket kit because it cost less and found no reason to regret it. The listings we confirmed don't say which version they are, so ask before you buy if it matters to you.

The specs that matter

Those are RealTruck's published specs, and the gaps matter. The current product page gives no load rating, no weight and no install time. Ask RealTruck for the rating and the instruction sheet for your exact part number before you count on either. Some Amazon listings show a lifetime warranty in their details; RealTruck's page and spec table say 5-year limited, and that's the term we'd count on.

The height is the number that decides it, and RealTruck doesn't publish one. Owners have measured it. On a 3rd gen Tundra SR5 with the off-road package, the deployed step sits about 14 in off the ground and leaves a 10 in step up to the cab floor, and the board drops only about 2 1/2 in below the sill. The PowerStep swings down and out to roughly halfway between the rocker panel and the ground, several inches lower than the E1.

Step height, triggers and daily use

We'd buy the E1 for the step, not for the drop. It gives everyone a wide, flat place to put a foot, and it gets out of the way when the doors close. That's a real improvement over no step at all, and it keeps the truck's clearance and lines intact. What it doesn't do is lower the climb much. A short rider still faces a high first step; one owner who tried the E1 on a Tundra found it so high that a short passenger needed help, and went to AMP. A tall driver who likes to slide across into the seat won't get that either. One owner who is 6 ft 1 in likes the E1 for the opposite reason: step up, stand and sit down instead of folding into the cab.

The magnets are less of a problem than buyers fear. A sensor sits at the B-pillar on each side, with a magnet on each door lined up against it. Open a door and that side's board deploys; shut all the doors and both retract. Owners stop seeing them, partly because they sit in the door jambs, out of sight with the doors shut; one who hated the look at first doesn't notice them now. Placement takes a little patience: on the driver's front door the suggested spot can land on the door-jamb label, and owners move the magnet up a little. Owners who traced the wiring point out that a door opening breaks the sensor circuit, so a broken sensor wire reads as an open door and drops that board: it fails toward a deployed step rather than a dead one.

Two habits take getting used to. Owners say the boards retract the moment the last door shuts, with no delay, so if you get out of the front, shut it and then open a rear door, the step cycles up and back down. That's the most common complaint, and the AMP PowerStep and the Rough Country boards both hold briefly before they retract. The other is the bypass switch. RealTruck says it overrides the automatic function for loading and car washes, and it does keep the boards tucked in. Owners say it doesn't hold them out: flip it with the boards down and they retract. For washing the roof, Go Rhino told one owner to stand on the board as the door closes, which stops the retract until the next door cycle.

Winter is an open question. RealTruck pitches the dual motors for snow and slush, but the E1's owner record from salt and ice country is thin, and none of it describes a frozen board. Rinse road salt off the boards and motors through the winter, and switch the boards off if they'd be cycling through packed snow.

Build quality and living with it

The board and motors feel solid, and we'd rate the hardware above the electronics around it. The boards are sturdy and wide, and the dual motors move each board from both ends, so it deploys evenly. We haven't found an owner reporting a failed E1 motor. The record is short, though, and almost entirely on 3rd gen Tundras, a truck that has only been on sale since the 2022 model year.

The rough edges are noise and the trim. Some owners find the boards louder than expected, and one suspected the mounts of a rattle and planned to loosen, cycle and retighten the bolts. The LED light pods mount wherever you can find a spot, and on the Tundra none of the spots aims at the step: the choice is under the body, pointing down behind the board, or on the frame, where they can miss the step entirely. The switch is a basic on/off switch with an adhesive backing, and some owners swap it for a factory-style button in an empty dash blank. That's a cosmetic mod RealTruck doesn't support; keep the supplied switch unless you're comfortable doing your own wiring.

Buy from a seller whose return terms you can live with, and test the height before the window closes. RealTruck's standard return window is 30 days, and one owner who decided after two months that the step was too high couldn't send the set back. Mount one board, open the door and stand on it before you finish the second side.

How it compares

Choose the AMP Research PowerStep if step height is the reason you're shopping. It drops several inches lower than the E1 and holds a short delay before it retracts. It costs more than the E1 on every truck we checked, runs one motor per side instead of two and reads the truck's door signals through the OBD port, which is where its install trouble lives. One E1 owner said they'd buy the AMP next time because it looked like it plugged into the truck's harness instead of running wires through the cab; on the 3rd gen Tundra, AMP's kit isn't fully plug and play either, and owners tap door-signal wires to finish it. Both brands belong to RealTruck.

The Rough Country Power Running Boards are the closest match on paper: two motors per side, magnetic door triggers, a harness to the battery and a 6 in aluminum board. Rough Country's boards carry a published 660 lb per side rating and a short retract delay, neither of which RealTruck claims for the E1, and the price comparison swings by truck. On the F-150 the Rough Country costs less; on the Tundra CrewMax, the textured black E1 costs less. Where the two are close in price, we'd take the Rough Country for the delay and the published rating.

If the E1's modest drop already works for your riders, ask whether you need power at all. The Go Rhino RB20 sits near the sill, only a little above where the E1's step deploys, bolts on with no drilling and costs a fraction as much. What the E1 adds is that it tucks away: more ground clearance at the rocker and a clean side profile when parked. That's worth paying for to some owners, and it's the whole difference.

Installing it

Plan on most of a day yourself, or pay a shop. RealTruck recommends professional installation and doesn't publish an install time; one owner working alone took five hours, and a shop's first E1 install ran longer than it expected. Wiring and torque come from RealTruck's instruction sheet for your truck, not from us. The work is bolting the motor brackets to the rocker panel, hanging the boards, running the harness to the battery, mounting the door sensors and magnets, and bringing the switch and the far-side sensor wires into the cab.

• Wire routing. The harness comes up on the passenger side, and the driver-side sensor wire and the switch wire have to cross the cab. On the Tundra that means lifting carpet and getting under the center console or the rear seat base, and the instructions say little about how. The instructions also call for removing the B-pillar trim to run the sensor harness.
• Wire length. Several owners ran short, on the split between the two sides, the driver-side sensor and the switch, and extended wires to finish the job. One non-hybrid owner suspects the harness was measured on a hybrid. Have connectors and a little wire on hand before you start.
• Hybrid Tundras. The battery sits under the rear seat, so the power leads come into the cab; one owner brought them in through a grommet under the front passenger seat. Go Rhino told one hybrid owner the E1 needs no drilling and no wire taps on that truck. Follow the sheet for your part number and ask RealTruck if it doesn't cover the hybrid.
• Alignment and test. Test-fit before you tighten everything, check that both boards tuck evenly, then open every door and make sure its board deploys and retracts.

A shop install takes most of the routing headache away, but it isn't cheap and it isn't automatic. Ask how many power boards the shop has put on your exact truck. On a 3rd gen Tundra, with the trim, carpet and console involved, an experienced installer earns their fee.

Who the E1 suits

Buy the E1 if you want a power board for the clean look and the extra clearance, you drive a 3rd gen Tundra or another truck with a confirmed listing, and the people who ride with you can handle a step near sill height. It's sturdy, it keeps out of the truck's electronics, and owners who wanted exactly that are happy with it.

Buy the AMP PowerStep instead if a short rider is the reason you're shopping, and price out the Rough Country for your truck before you order, because on some trucks it gives you the same two-motor, magnet-triggered layout plus a retract delay for less. If tucking away doesn't matter, the RB20 does the E1's job at sill height for far less money.