Ford or one of the other big 3 might eventually be able to crack into some of the fleet market with an EV if it's priced reasonably. The bigger issue for many large fleets is installing the electric infrastructure to recharge their fleets. One or two trucks is easy. But imagine having to install the capacity to overnight recharge a fleet of dozens of trucks or more.

I can't wait to see how these $100,000+ things will do in a hurricane evacuation in Florida.

My $1,200 truck can get me in and out just fine.

At lease he gets to use Apple CarPlay while waiting on the tow truck.

I live in a county where the nearest fast charger I know of, is 35 miles of country road & 10 miles of freeway away. I think there is 1 slow charger over in the next town. Obviously EV is not compatible with my current locale.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
I think it is more that he is an idiot.

He didn't check to see what he would need to do to charge the truck at home and work.

He tried to take it on a cross country trip, which I think most people know is going to present problems. Even if you didn't know, you should have checked that out.

Requiring 6 months for repairs is the part of this story that isn't really at his feet. The rest may show why electrics aren't suitable for many people, but that is his fault for not understanding the tech and its limitations at this time.

I wouldn't buy an electric car - I drive far enough often enough that it wouldn't work.

All correct. I’ve been daily driving an electric car for almost 10 years. I installed a L2 charger in the garage. The charger was like $450, and it has its own surge protection built in. It was like $200 to the certified electrician to install/wire it to the breaker. So the pricing in this article is a load of bullshit. He must have had a breaker panel that was 40 years old. And his EV has the range required to get to work and back so installing a charger at work is not needed. My EV range was 84 miles when new and we have EV chargers at work and I don’t even use them. Not only do I not need it but say I wanted free juice. Well the H1B Visa Tesla owners show up at the crack to sponge and leave them parked all day even though the rules are 4 hours only. Basically they are cheapskate fucks who paid 50-125k for a luxury vehicle that try to chintz and get free kwh at work. Give me a fucking break.

In 10 years I have had zero issues, none, it being the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned in my life and the absolute cheapest to maintain by a long long margin because it’s almost nil. But I’m not stupid enough to use an electric vehicle to road trip. People do it, but fuck that. For me they make sense for local driving. To work, the gym, grocery run, doctor visits, etc. I don’t care how fancy it is, I wouldn’t road trip in it. This clown bought an overpriced vehicle and ran into issues getting it fixed. That’s on Ford, it being new tech, and covid supply chain nonsense. Sensational journalism at its finest. I paid from lease to owning the title of mine, $19,700. Expensive electric vehicles make as much sense as pissing in my shoes. Just stupid. I have a truck. A compact AWD truck and I paid 33.5k new in 2019 for it. This guy in the OP is just an idiot like you said, a dumbass.

EV’s are not the boogeyman. What’s funny is the shit he bought. LMAO. I bought rural land this past Spring that I desperately want to move to. So my 2013 Nissan, I need more range so I just checked used 2022 prices, that have the 240 mile range. You know I came across several mint ones with under 10k miles on the odometer for 24-25k. This guy is just a fucking moron. You don’t need a fancy pancy 100k+ truck for electric propulsion. People are just mindless. And I make my own power at home which is why I daily drive one. Makes sense for me as the juice is free. When I go out of town on a road trip I take my gas truck or rent a vehicle if I’m worried about hail/weather, etc, and get the optional insurance coverage so it’s not tied to my driving record if anything happens. It’s what I recommend for road trips anyway. Go to Hertz, get the optional insurance coverage, etc. It’s a small price to pay to have my nice shit sitting at home in the garage.

I was with you, right up until you recommended Hertz!

I love seeing the vitriol used to discuss EVs. They aren't evil, they are awesome. The evil comes with government fucking with free markets. I may buy an EV for my next car. I could go two weeks between charges if I only used it for going to work or stores. There are hundreds, if not thousands of chargers within 10mi of my house plus my work has a half dozen that charge 1/2 the cost per kWh that the utility charges, so I wouldn't even need to install a home charger, if I decided I wanted one I've already upgraded my panel and could install 80a charger.

Depends on where you live, I live 5mi from work and have dozens of shopping centers within 5-10mi plus three malls within 15mi. If you live somewhere rural or drive long distances you'll have to wait another decade until the tech and infrastructure matures.

Also guys remember that 115k CAD = 87k USD.

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
And there you have it....

Facts

THE ultimate aribiter. Eventually. Sometimes for stupid people too.

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:

quote:

I cannot take it for off-grid camping.

No. You can't. Yes, this makes an EV truck kind of a stupid concept for a lot of people who want to use a truck for truck things. If you want to run a landscaping business in the suburbs, it's maybe a different story.

All the landscaping companies in my area serve mostly suburbs. EVs aren't possible in that role either. Any kind of HD work truck must run on diesel or gasoline, EV is not an option. You can't haul loads and do work on batteries. The physics and current technology don't work for that application, not even close.

quote:

Originally posted by PR64:
Ford has a contract in place to be able to use Tesla superchargers starting in 2024.

I will have to buy an adapter so I can plug it in my Mach E.

Think Apple charger vs android charger.

That'll help a lot with the Ford lineup. Here's Matt Farah on a year with the Mach E and dealing with Electrify America chargers (and mind you he does live in Commiefornia):

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
I agree this guy is an idiot. That being said, there are a lot of people, me for one, who aren’t “car” people.

If you read articles on EV they don’t tend to highlight just how bad they are for things other than short commutes. I make it a point to read car magazine articles about EV driving long distances. It is comical how much they candy coat the pitfalls of EV in these scenarios. They are almost universally positive about things like stopping to enjoy lunch while fueling up, the ease of the tech to find chargers, etc.

My point is that if you just read the fluff, which is most of the stuff out there, you might think this is well within the vehicles capabilities. Ie, they have been lying and not everyone has taken the red pill yet.

Another thing. You don’t get to say “well he didn’t take limitations into account” when these things are being jammed down our throats. Have you seen the latest EPA CAFE numbers I believe they are called?

You must be the person who reads only 5 star ratings but ignores the tons of negative ratings written by smart customers, then plunks down real money on something that won't work for your application. You don't have to be a car person to protect yourself from bad vehicle choices. I'm not a carpenter, doctor or lawyer, but I research them before I hire one. There is tons of information about EV technology that's not fluff.

Thanks for the insult but no I’m not any of those things. I can read though and the overwhelming press EV vehicles get is positive. That’s a fucking fact. The downsides are minimized or ignored. Why? Because a massive shit ton of money is pushing society that direction whether it makes sense or not. If you can’t recognize that you are an idiot.

This guy got what he deserved but he was led by the nose by a consortium of manufacturers, press, and government working together to fabricate an untrue tale. It’s the fairy tale told without the evil stepmother. All the good, little of the bad. For every honest article about the downside there are dozens of articles spouting the upside.

I wouldn’t buy an EV with your money. It’s fucking stupid except for a ridiculously small subset of Americans. And those Americans probably still have an ICE or hybrid vehicle as well. These cars are phenomenal 2nd cars. Certainly not the Jack of all trades.

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:
I can't wait to see how these $100,000+ things will do in a hurricane evacuation in Florida.

My $1,200 truck can get me in and out just fine.

Not if the highways are filled with discharged EVs going nowhere fast.

On a related topic, heating discharges EVs really fast. In a blizzard, an EV would be a death trap.

quote:

Originally posted by UTsig:
My neighbor got a Rivian pickup and took it cross country almost immediately. He had no serious issues, chronicled the trip on FB. The biggest issue came on his way home, a different route that took him through NM, AZ and back to UT. Chargers that were slow or didn't work. He had no complaint about cost or range, just trusted the software that came with it.

I'll probably never own an EV but as time goes by they'll improve.

So will IC engine technology, and maybe especially hybrid technology.

I am a big Dodge fan. The new electric Dodge Charger is supposed to debut in 2024. And its badazz! Amazing tech! The base model is 455 HP and speculation is it will be about 50K. The top-of-the-line Banshee is 880 HP. Lots of hype so far but no real hard data on actual cost and range. I am definitely interested.
Questions and Concerns:
I live in a large townhouse complex. There is no plan to install charging infrastructure. And even if there was, what form would it take? Multiple "islands" of chargers? Each townhouse getting its own charger? Would you pay to charge, or would my rent be increased to pay for charging? And there are very few chargers here in MQT (so far anyway) so no real easy access charging options exist outside of home now.
Given the Yoops weather of day after day of cold weather, (and I have no garage) and the need to heat the car and keep the windows frost free, I need to have hard data on range, cold weather charge rates and battery durability. So, Dodge, give me the stats, please. It will be AWD so that's a +.
Who will be available to maintain the car? Will it be dealer only?
What will my insurance rate be?
Looks like it will be a long time before I can look out the window and see my new Charger parked out front.

quote:

Originally posted by stoic-one:
I was with you, right up until you recommended Hertz!

LMAO, you got my point. I personally recommend SIXT but they are not as commonly available. Great place.

Dude I remember driving my EV up to the engravers to get my SBR etched. You should have seen the dude sitting in there when I pulled up and opened the door. “Are you lost?” I said nope, I need my SBR engraved and have an appointment buddy. He started to chill out, I explained the car, the cost savings. I’ll never forget it. After 10 minutes of explanation he flipped a 180. He said “Let me recap this…your lease payment is $199 and you charge it for free at home? Mother fucker, I’m spending $600 a month on gas alone commuting to the airport where I work every night. How much would it cost me to charge that thing to get me to work and back every month?” I said probably $20-30 tops. The look on his face was priceless. Then I told him, hey the douchebags mostly drive Teslas but Republicans drive them too so ease up. I mean I think Elon is huckster and I do not like his Tesla cars at all, but he got the point. There is a guy at work who drives a Prius. He has a farm, commutes like an hour to our office. His other vehicle is like a 3500 Diesel, I mean whatever big mother fucker diesel. The big sumbitch. He has a damn bumper sticker on the back of that Prius that says “Not a Democrat” I stopped him and talked to him one time. Great guy. He said the Diesel fuel bills were killing him when he used to drive that truck to commute and said something to the effect of, hey if I’m buying a commuter car I want the thing that is relatively cheap, reliable, that sips fuel, because the farm costs money. I shook his hand, told him about my car and he said something like “Yeah we’ll continue to take shit but you know what? We’re saving money”.

yooper it doesn't sound like you have an ideal situation to set up store and charge a EV.

Cold weather is not a batteries friend.

You might be able to hook up a charger to your house with a 220 outlet. The 110 will only give you maybe 3 miles per charge hour. Even if you have a spot right in front of your unit. You would need to run the charging cable to your car.

I personally would not do it in your location and parking situation.

In cold weather it's best to pre condition the battery before driving and charging. It would need to be plugged in to warm the battery with a trickle current. I have read that cold ass weather can reduce range 30-40%.

My EV is garaged. We have solar and a Tesla power wall with a 220 wall charging station. I also live in the SF Bay Area so winter generally isn't an issue.

Sounds like the Dodge will be a bad ass car tho.

EV’s are not ready for prime time. Or more accurately, the infrastructure isn’t. They’d be great for the person needing a strictly around-town vehicle but trying to force everyone to jump on board to “save the planet” or some shit just isn’t viable. At current support levels, you’re limited to home charging overnight (or longer) just to scoot around and go back home.

I don’t have any desire to sit at a charger for long periods of time even if the grid could handle millions of people doing the same at the same time. This will lead to we peons being restricted to going maybe 100 miles from home and back if we don’t want to get stranded. The super-rich will still be driving ICE vehicles and paying outrageous gas prices and “carbon taxes” or whatever they decide to call it because they can afford it. Remember when Los Angeles said no more pool water or watering lawns and fancy hedges? The Uber-rich laughed and paid the “tax” because they could and kept their pools and greenery. The same people will have generators and big tanks of fuel when the brown/blackouts begin in earnest.

The world runs on oil. It needs to continue to do so until an energy source can be invented that can do the same things reliably and at a price everyone can actually afford. Rushing in without proper preparation will end in chaos.

I'd love to be able to afford one as my work vehicle. But currently for a road trip... hell he had a damn truck... it would have been cheaper to just put a generator in the bed of the thing.

As other have said... 6,000 to add a circuit and charger to his home... the guy was an idiot way before he bought the truck.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
Gasoline powered vehicle.
Time to fill up - 5 minutes
Cost to fill up - $45

EV
Time to refill charge - 2 Hrs
Cost to charge - $56

Seems like a no brainer to me. Who want's to add 2 hours to their trip just to charge???

Is it really a no brainer though? Lets not omit facts.

For the typical person who should own an EV, charging costs like 11 cents per kwH at home. The largest capacity F150 Lighting would cost less than $15 to fully charge at home. And that would happen overnight, every night, so that you would start fresh with a full capacity every day. The typical person also wouldn't use a full 131kwh a day, just 20-30kwh for most typical commutes.

For the vast vast vast majority of people, for the vast vast vast majority of those people's daily commute, a single daily charge is enough.

So really, a few dollars a day to charge nightly, with zero stops at a public charger but for a handful of times a year, is what most people who ought to own an EV have to contend with.

If your use pattern falls out of this scenario, then yeah, pick something else. But the EV is a fantastic answer to the transportation needs of a ton of people for a ton of their typical driving.

Well your math simply doesn't work here in NH. We had a HUGE rate increase approved by the NH Public Utilities Commission last August...112%! In January I was paying Eversource .314/kWh, and it's since rolled back a bit to .296/kWh on my most recent electric bill, so I'd basically need to multiply all of your numbers by 2.5 at which point it makes ZERO sense!

quote:

EV’s are not ready for prime time. Or more accurately, the infrastructure isn’t.

I believe that is the most accurate statement.