You're wrong and it sounds like you're confusing terms. An electric motor at 0 RPM is producing 0 power, power is measured in HP or watts. At very motor speed, any motor will still be producing relatively low power, even if it's producing very high torque. At highway speeds passing or climbing a hill is when any vehicle needs the most power/HP, and an electric drive will have to produce that power also, or slow down.
The steam analogy is good only in that steam is a similar power storage to a battery, the limiting short term reserve that powers the motor. A steam engine could be replaced with an electric, or gas or diesel of the same HP and do the same thing with the traction engine of the same weight and other specs.
Your comparison of a pickup engine in a semi is getting back to the duty cycle. A semi engine is designed to operate at a mid duty cycle for long hours. A pickup will get a high HP rating, but low duty cycle, and lower expected life. A dragster engine is the other extreme. HP is HP. Torque curve, engine reliability/duty cycle are different. Electric motors have more useful torque for many purposes, but you can't say the HP is different.