this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
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How so?
It's probably not what they were thinking but a Van can do most anything a truck can do except when it comes to off-road capabilities. For hauling and towing, a Van can usually do the same job without being a machine designed to kill pedestrians.
Ugh, no I don't want to throw a bunch of hay and straw inside a van, you'll have straw stuck in the crevices of the dashboard forever.
I mean I very much want an electric truck just not for $70,000+, I need a a vehicle that can do the following:
If there was an affordable electric truck that could do this I would buy it, but I bought my (used) Tacoma for about $25k 4 years ago and I really can't justify anything more expensive then that.
So if they can bring electric trucks down in price, I will buy one, and I want it to look like a truck, I would never consider a cyber truck, thats beyond ugly.
Once a f150 lightning is as used as that Tacoma was when you bought it, then it should make sense. All the examples with issues from factory mistakes would have weeded themselves out of the used truck pool, and there should be enough newer fancier electric trucks to bring down the value of today's trucks when they're 5-10 years old.
As long as you're not towing or road tripping, it should do everything on your list for a reasonable price. It just going to be a while.
We all have a similar scenario where vehicles are so expensive that we really need them to cover every use case. Married people at least have the option of different vehicles for different use cases
I have to admit, I’m considering whether I can swing two cars to better serve my needs: an EV most of the time, but keep my SUV for groups or carrying or road trips
No real towing or load hauling capability. Edison is the only company that seems to be honest about that and is working to overcome the problem.
I mean, if you make a diesel/electric hybrid, it isn't going to be that hard to fix the problem. Still has emissions, though.
Look up Edison Motors. Diesel is very efficient if operated at its optimal fuel/air mixture at the right rpm, like what happens in a generator. Emissions are already coming out of coal and gas plants. We have a problem today with infrastructure. Trying to skip the transition by going straight to electric only will not work at scale. This is already being proven. And zero emissions is a myth. What we're doing is shifting emissions upstream. Incremental improvements and gradual reductions using the existing infrastructure while the new infrastructure is organically built due to market pressure is the only way forward. Forcing the leap is failing and will continue to fail.
Electric vehicles have instant torque, can use actual independent motors for each wheel to maximize grip, and can have higher hp than their gas counterparts. They have better towing and hauling capabilities than a comparable gas equivalent, I get you don't understand physics but it's a pretty basic concept, ffs....
To clarify, it's the capacity, not the motors. Check out this garbage: https://youtu.be/3nS0Fdayj8Y The more load, the worse it gets for battery capacity. Even 200% improvement in battery capacity through innovation is not enough. Electric motors are clearly better in pretty much every way. But carrying literal tons of batteries with a reduced travel distance and hours of down time to charge is not going to work. If it did, tesla rigs would be flying out of the factories. Seriously, check out Edison Motors. Their electric truck is a balance of electric, battery capacity, and recharge with an onboard generator OR from the grid. You get the benefits of ICE and electric with no apparent pitfalls like electric only.
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Fair enough, sorry for assuming you were gonna pull out the electric is just shit argument. I haven't looked into Edison motors but there is a British sport car manufacturer, can't believe I'm drawing a blank right now on the name, working on using an electric drive train with a small battery and hydrogen turbine generator that supplies 300mi of range and supposedly can run on anything from diseal to hydrogen allowing it to be completely green once we have the needed infrastructure. That battery only give like 50mi of range if I am remembering correctly but the turbine allows us to use more energy dense solutions for powering the drive train. Thus offsetting any capacity issues and needing to recharge on the track, as the car was more track/performance focused. I think for those looking to get similar range and capacity these types of solutions would be perfect, and allows us to get the benefits of both sides while mitigating anyone issue. Hopefully we can push for more hybrid like solutions like this as I think it would satisfy most gripes we have with going to more green machinery. Infrastructure is not fully built out for hydrogen or electric charging? Cool top off the generator at the gas station takes the same amount of time as before and vehicle maintenance is simpler with an electric drivetrain, keeping similar convience while also primed to take advantage of green solutions like hydrogen stations or fast chargers as they become more prevelant.
I agree electric doesn't currently make sense for semi trucks but it really seems like you are trying to argue that the downsides of a semi truck apply to a pickup truck when they are two completely different vehicles for two very different use cases.
Your whole point about the more weight you add reduces the range of an EV but you also leave out the fact that adding more weight also reduces the fuel economy of ICE vehicles. Most estimates say that for every 100lb of additional weight you can expect around a 2% drop in fuel economy. For an average size tow behind RV (6500lb wet) that's a 65% drop in fuel economy.
I do not know where you got "hours of down time to charge". Maybe you were looking at the level two home charging rates? The Ford F150 lighting is capable of charging to 80% (the recommended limit) in 36 minutes for the smaller battery and 41 minutes with the extended range battery using level 3 DC fast charging. I'm no math major but I don't think that's hours of downtime