Thoughts on a plug-in hybrid conversion
Hello! I am the founder of a Seattle-based startup. We are developing a family of universal retrofit kits that convert existing vehicles into plug-in hybrids. Our first product will be for pickup tru...
Forum Discussion
Thanks so much for the thoughtful comments.
Completely agree that the product is not for everyone. The data sources we've found suggest that a 30 mile range covers about 60% of daily driving in the US. 45 miles covers about 75%. There is, of course, a huge geographic component to this. Urban folks might be quite a bit less on average, and rural folks quite a bit more.
Also completely agree that someone already in the market for a new car would generally be better served by upgrading to a PHEV from an OEM. We're trying to address the portion of the market who don't want to or can't afford to buy new...the used car market in the US is twice the size of the new car market. And of course, there's the complete lack of any PHEV pickups on the market, which really blows my mind.
I started thinking about the RV market because my buddy is really anxious for our products to come out. He and his family hit the road for months/years at a time in their 5th wheel. They stay in one place for weeks/months, and use their pickup as a daily driver at the destinations. They'd love to do all that under electric power, but they also put in 500+ mile days of towing, so pure EV isn't a great option. He may be a niche use case, but the same factors apply to someone who uses their pickup as both a daily driver and a tow vehicle.
Lastly, just to clarify, $10K would be for a system that gave ~45 miles of range to a 3/4 ton. 30 miles would be cheaper, smaller vehicle would be cheaper, etc.
Completely agree that the product is not for everyone. The data sources we've found suggest that a 30 mile range covers about 60% of daily driving in the US. 45 miles covers about 75%. There is, of course, a huge geographic component to this. Urban folks might be quite a bit less on average, and rural folks quite a bit more.
Also completely agree that someone already in the market for a new car would generally be better served by upgrading to a PHEV from an OEM. We're trying to address the portion of the market who don't want to or can't afford to buy new...the used car market in the US is twice the size of the new car market. And of course, there's the complete lack of any PHEV pickups on the market, which really blows my mind.
I started thinking about the RV market because my buddy is really anxious for our products to come out. He and his family hit the road for months/years at a time in their 5th wheel. They stay in one place for weeks/months, and use their pickup as a daily driver at the destinations. They'd love to do all that under electric power, but they also put in 500+ mile days of towing, so pure EV isn't a great option. He may be a niche use case, but the same factors apply to someone who uses their pickup as both a daily driver and a tow vehicle.
Lastly, just to clarify, $10K would be for a system that gave ~45 miles of range to a 3/4 ton. 30 miles would be cheaper, smaller vehicle would be cheaper, etc.
