2021 Ford F-150 hybrid

spoon059 wrote:

Reisender wrote:
I don’t see this as being particularly realistic for 1/2 ton owners. Most 1/2 tons I see are pulling 25 foot or smaller travel trailers or equipment trailers weighing 6000 or 7000 pounds. The coming Ford Electric half ton, the Tesla Cybertruck and the Rivian are all electric 1/2 tons that will do the same job with much more power, virtually no maintenance and can be charged at home or at the shop. There are a lot of grocery getter half tons around here but also a lot of contractors. I can’t see a contractor choosing a gasser/hybrid that can’t be plugged in over an electric once 2022 rolls around. The operating costs of the electric would be a small fraction of the operating costs of anything with a tailpipe.

Jmho.

Just another perspective... in the grand scheme of things, very few half ton owners are towing. Of those that tow, they aren't towing very often. Most of the owners are driving it around as a regular commuter car the majority of the time.

Also, a lot of fleet managers are buying half ton trucks. A hybrid gets better mileage (at least on paper) than a traditional truck. If a fleet buys them in 2021, they are likely to buy them in 2022 and beyond, rather than retool their supplies after one model year. Hybrid allows you to fill your fuel tank up and get more miles per day, whereas a plug in electric only is mile or distance limited.

Now, an individual contractor makes decisions differently than a fleet manager would. Around here, most contractors I know aren't driving half ton trucks though. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but I think its a good thing that we are getting these types of options for trucks. A pure electric wouldn't work for me, because I take longer trips and don't have the time or patience to stop every 300 miles, find a suitable charging station and sit still for hours to charge my truck up for the next days drive. An affordable hybrid that creates necessary power and saves on fuel costs would be a fantastic option. I like the idea that jdc1 had, about a small diesel generator that produces power and is stored in batteries. Not sure if its practical in a 1 ton truck that tows... but it would be cool if it did!

Yah. There will be a market for that kind of thing. I’m not sure it will be big enough for manufacturers to build an assembly line for it. I remember earlier days of doing 500 km at a shot which in this province is a more than 5 hours affair. (Speed limits etc). For us now we are ready for a break after 2.5 or 3 hours. We usually stop 3 times in an 8 hour travel day. Short pee and coffee refill break in the morning, 20 minute sandwich and apple break at lunch and one more short break in the afternoon. We stay at hotels with charging facilities so next morning just rinse and repeat. This is kind of how EV drivers travel. Not for everyone I guess. Our travel day in an EV us no longer than our old grand Cherokee. Electric works well for us this way. We never stop to charge, we just charge while we are stopped. We have never been at a supercharger for more than 20 minutes and usually shorter.

Just a heads up though. You don’t have to go looking for Charge stations. All that is in the cars database. You just navigate to it. The car will display the approximate charge you will have left when you arrive. It’s all quite user friendly.

Cheers.