map40
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Re: EV alternative for light/medium duty trucks
MFL wrote: Map40 said..."I still have my 2008 Chrysler Town & Country minivan that can haul as much as a truck but is much more efficient. And as I have a lifetime warranty bumper to bumper I will never get ride of it." Tell us that minivan belongs to your spouse. Most men would not drive one, and certainly not want to be seen loading it up at HD, or Lowes. Actually SUVs became the popular soccer mom rig, as they wanted to regain self respect. :) Jerry See, I care for practical application and money in my pocket. If I have to drive my minivan in front of a bunch of contractors I could not care less what they think. I just know I can carry anything I need and I can drop it at the dealer and they will fix it for free...936Views0likes0CommentsRe: EV alternative for light/medium duty trucks
Reisender wrote: map40 wrote: pianotuna wrote: Silverado now starts at 70,000 Trucks have become really expensive and unfortunatly I don't think we have any EV truck that can replace current ICEs for most cases. Good morning. I’ll agree with that to some degree. Most half tons are used in more of an SUV that can bring a few bags of soil home role. Or maybe just haul a utility trailer to the dump with a load of leaves etc. The upcoming crop of electric half tons seem to do this fine. And the second generation e-half tons will be a big jump over ford lightnings etc. I do think the shape of half tons will have to change though. This boxy square approach with no aerodynamics will fade as their upcoming more aero designed competition will kick then to the curb. Jmho. A good point. A lot of trucks are really not used as trucks, so why should they be one. Like SUVs became more cars than trucks, trucks can be more efficient if their use as trucks is only going to be infrequent. I still have my 2008 Chrysler Town & Country minivan that can haul as much as a truck but is much more efficient. And as I have a lifetime warranty bumper to bumper I will never get ride of it.679Views0likes0CommentsRe: EV alternative for light/medium duty trucks
free radical wrote: Dont care for any other EVs their quality just isnt there and never will be when CEO doesnt know what goes on down the line or hires incompetent enginers. I agree with what you wrote except this. Tesla quality is knowned for being sub par on everything besides the EV components. I have owned several EVs and modified/redesigned a ton of them and I can tell you that Teslas are neither the best quality nor the best design. The simply created the business. For example, BMW i3's have proven to have better quality than Tesla, and for some people (like me) is the perfect vehicle. Cheaper and more convenient than any other alternative, but of course, that is my case.509Views0likes0CommentsRe: EV alternative for light/medium duty trucks
Ford and GM's cash cow it is and will be big ICEs for quite some time. The both are retiring from the car market because the competition is too tough and they own the truck and SUVs markets (I am not saying they are the best, just saying that is where they make money). EVs will most likely thrive in the car market but will never take it over 100% because the technology can't compete with ICEs in every case. A company that sells close to $400M per day (Ford and GM do) has to invest in keeping their cash cow alive. Comparing the EV investment to a new ICE power platform is like comparing buying a scratch-off to investing in your 401K... EVs are not the final solution, but has the potential of reducing oil dependency (you can generate electricity in a lot of different ways). That alone is enough to justify it's existence. Alternative technologies will come, but I still believe that they will be successfully only when they are cheaper/more convenient than the existing technology. Last week I saw the latest hybrid-hydraulic car, and they have been working on that for a decade. It works great, but so far is, like so many other technologies, just a possible future solution, much like hydrogen, CNG, and others509Views0likes0CommentsRe: EV alternative for light/medium duty trucks
stsmark wrote: Grit dog wrote: @benny37, I have to laugh. I understand fully what body panel alignment is as well. The funny part is while I’ve never driven a Tesla, you can’t swing a dead cat around here without hitting (seeing) one. I have never once looked at one and thought, ugh that door gap is something only a mother could love…. Idk, pretty weak argument imo. Coming from someone like me who’s decidedly pro dead dinosaurs vehicles, if one has to say stupid things to try to support their decision or argument, it’s time to pick another fight…. Grit agreed, I live in Tesla heaven, CA Wine Country. On a daily basis I see more of them now than say Camrys. In my neighborhood of 220 homes there are at least a dozen now 80% Model Ys. There is a 12 stall Supercharger in the shopping center right outside the entrance to our development. Average 4 cars there at a time. There is no towing accessible stall so that will be entertaining when it comes about. I can’t recall ever seeing a Tesla towing anything around here though. Being a manual wheelchair user I thought it was cool they have an Accessible stall. The bummer is I have never seen a more cheated spot. I was 40 year Maintenance Tech on Bizjets so I have a good eye for detail and I think the panel gap deal is over blown. Maybe early on. I will say the only Tesla I’ve ever seen on a tow truck was Model X with one of the Falcon doors half open. Let me explain my point of view on the matter. The point is not the panel gap, it is the reason why there is a panel gap. It simply talks about how good the dimensional control of the stamping process and the designs is. Fit & finish simply tell you how well everything comes toghether. For us, the guys forged in the automotive industry, that is the tell sign of a vehicle that was design with an inmature process. Normally you make the assumption that the rest of the systems have the same issue, and it shows in the statistics. Testa is the leader in Electric vehicles technology and software, but the rest of the vehicle is 3 to 4 times worse than the industry average, showing the exact problem that the "big gaps" insinuate: inmature design and process. The other automakers don't have such as many electrical, suspension, doors, or lights issues because they have been building vehicles for a long time. The best example is the Nissan Leaf. The car is bullet-proof. Unbeatable from every angle, except the battery technology. Due to lack of cooling, unpropperly used batteries would significantly degrade rapidly. (And most people are unaware on how to use it). Tesla has a great battery system in comparison. Today you can find Leafs in Europe with 300K miles stil with original everything, exccept the battery.287Views0likes0CommentsRe: Flying J / Pilot to install megachargers for med/heavy trks
Gjac wrote: There seems to be a lot of peripheral arguments both for and against EV's. As run100 just posted above its hard to get all the facts about EV's, but to me math does not lie. So, if you look at it in simple terms and compare apples to apples most EV's that I have looked at take 30 KW's to drive 100 miles. In my state they just raised my electric rate to 33 cents per KW. So, to drive 100 miles in an EV it cost $9.90. My Rav4 hybrid gets 42 MPGs on average, so it takes 2.4 gals to drive 100 miles. At $3.00/gal that is $7.20 at $4.00/gal that is $9.60. That is not cheaper for me where I live. When I looked at a tesla several years ago, I plotted a trip to Florida. Their GPS gives you all the charging stations along the way. They varied from 34 to 50 cents /KW which I'm sure by now they have gone up also. At 50 cents a KW it would cost $15 for every 100 you travel. $225 from CT to Florida vs $144 in my RAV4 at $4.00/gal. So, unless you live in a low-cost state, have access to free charging and don't drive long trips where you need a fast charger, to me an EV is not cheaper to drive. And if those are the numbers I would have done exactly the same thing. I pay less than $0.07 per kw, so I would use $2.10 for charging 30kw, and with that I do 120 to 150 miles. For me, it was a no brainer also. But that is only my case, and as I said, I only look at my pocket and my convenience when I decide to buy my car. EVs are not for everybody, they can't be.867Views0likes0CommentsRe: Flying J / Pilot to install megachargers for med/heavy trks
run100 wrote: We own a hybrid that gets 42-mpg and completely love it! It's quiet, economical and a pleasure to drive. Trying to determine where and how everything we own or consume is made, and under what conditions, is beyond my ability. Add on top of that the never ending lies and attempts to manipulate the population, not based on facts, but to accomplish ones own quest for power and money, regardless of reality or the impact on others. Again, that's a lot to sift through! I'm just trying to make it through each work day and put food on the table! Agreed!!! Everybody looks at their side of the equation and figure out their own need. My pocket, my convenience, my decision...865Views0likes0CommentsRe: EV alternative for light/medium duty trucks
thomas201 wrote: I am the OP. I just read through the entire thread again. You still haven't convinced me that you can replace all vehicles with electric or hydrogen, then rebuild the entire infrastructure system converting natural gas to hydrogen or building the new electric transmission lines for less money than onsite production of hydrocarbons as a refinery feedstock at renewable energy facilities. I think with both hydrogen and EV's, the cost of fleet replacement and building the support infrastructure are vastly under estimated. My way, you pay as you go. It is invisible to the consumer. Nobody will be able to because it is not possible with the current technology at this time in the current technology development path. EVs are great for commuting and city traffic, but they fail with heavy load and long trips (which makes them quite difficult to use towing a trailer or fifth wheel). Hydrogen is a great technology, but the only cost effective technology is direct sea water extraction and there is no solution for distribution in place yet, so we are looking between 10 to 20 years at best. To your original question, from a person familiar with EVs and Hydrogen technology (and a long time owner of both), neither technology can replace ICEs today for the RVs application in most cases. Now, if you have a very light trailer and are willing to put up with the charging, there are really good EVs that could work (some postings have actually shown). Besides that, Not currently available on my point of view. (And as I normally say, my point of view is my pocket and my convenience; I will use any technology that is cheaper to own and as convenient for me than the alternatives)415Views0likes0CommentsRe: EV alternative for light/medium duty trucks
fj12ryder wrote: Lantley wrote: You Chicken little men are too much. A Tesla semi breaks down and you want to scrap the entire program. I wonder if Kenworth had this bashing when there first truck broke down! Funny thing is we have large wrecker companies, trucker down website and all kinds of resources dedicated to repairing over the road semi trucks. Why?............Because they break down! They all breakdown. I don't think the Tesla Semi truck sky is falling just yet! Yeah, but how many of the Tesla semi's on the road have broken down? Percentage-wise what would that be? :) You are not making a point, you are just showing how ridiculous this stupid discussion is. Do you want the percentage of produced trucks? Why not based on estimated lifespan? You guys may not like the Tesla Semi, neither do I. But that does not change the fact that is made from a company that weather you like it or not brought a technology to market and became the fastest growing automotive company in history. Nobody does that unless they do something right. The semi has a lot of points against it, it needs a special charger, the range is limited, is an emerging technology in the segment. But I'm sure that even with that there will be applications in which it will work better than a regular semi, even if it is for just 1% of the applications that is a lot of trucks. The point is: stop the ridiculous bashing of a unproven new vehicle. Nobody knows yet what is going to happens with it. But if they only capture 0.25% of the market they will have enough demand to produce their forecast. Last time they took this bet they took the title of the #1 luxury carmaker in USA from Mercedes and BMW COUNTING THEIR WHOLE LINEUP. Unless you think you are smarter than Mercedes, BMW and all their customers and history wont repeat itself....593Views0likes0Comments
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