Six F-150 lightnings charging station an Electrify America charge site. They must be getting closer. Video as well.

[Voyageurs]

This is a thermodynamic issue. Ford says the Lightning has a range of 300 miles. Average mid size travel trailer weighs about the same as a high end F-150. Double the rolling mass (truck plus trailer) reduces range by half. Can't fool Mother Nature.

That would work for lots of folks around here. Friday night 5:15 on the road headed to the lake. Setup by 7 and drinking beer. Sunday at noon headed home, trailer parked in the driveway and mowing the lawn by 1:30. Next week, rinse and repeat. ?.

 

[redbaron]

This is a thermodynamic issue. ...

Wow....I should have taken more science classes

 

[sanda]

That would work for lots of folks around here. Friday night 5:15 on the road headed to the lake. Setup by 7 and drinking beer. Sunday at noon headed home, trailer parked in the driveway and mowing the lawn by 1:30. Next week, rinse and repeat. ?.

That is max range under ideal conditions. Factor in wind, mountain ranges, radio on, ac on, wipers and lights and I wouldn't want to use it as a trailer hauler. It would be great as a short commuter vehicle or local contractor truck.

 

[Voyageurs]

That is max range under ideal conditions. Factor in wind, mountain ranges, radio on, ac on, wipers and lights and I wouldn't want to use it as a trailer hauler. It would be great as a short commuter vehicle or local contractor truck.

Yah. I think contractors will be all over this. We know a roofer guy that has a couple on order and an electrical contractor with orders as well.

I don’t think ford has mentioned much about the conditions and range numbers, but one of the YouTube videos mentions tests were with a thousand pounds of payload on board. I haven’t see any official comments from ford on this. I’m sure more info will come out when they are released.

I’m surprised we haven’t seen more video from Chevy and their electric half ton. You would think they would be trying to capture some of that market share. Dodge is a complete no show.

 

[FL-JOE]

I still say EVs will have their place in the market just like they do now, but even in 10 years they won't make up 30% or more of the vehicles being used by the general public. As more and more do come out I think their limitations will become apparent to many.

What happens if you are within 75 miles of needing a charge and BAM, traffic on I-95 comes to a stop and you crawl along for the next 2 hours in 95 degree temps? Can you run these EVs out of power? If you do how hard would it be to have a service truck come out and recharge you? Or, would you just have to be towed somewhere?

 

[turbopilot]

I still say EVs will have their place in the market just like they do now, but even in 10 years they won't make up 30% or more of the vehicles being used by the general public. As more and more do come out I think their limitations will become apparent to many.

What happens if you are within 75 miles of needing a charge and BAM, traffic on I-95 comes to a stop and you crawl along for the next 2 hours in 95 degree temps? Can you run these EVs out of power? If you do how hard would it be to have a service truck come out and recharge you? Or, would you just have to be towed somewhere?

The next generation of batteries may get us there current generation does not have enough range, too long to top off and not enough charging stations away from big cities. Interesting YouTube video of a husband with his 2021 F-150 Hybrid with ProPower on Board charging his wife's Telsa when she depleted her battery on the highway.

 

[Voyageurs]

I still say EVs will have their place in the market just like they do now, but even in 10 years they won't make up 30% or more of the vehicles being used by the general public. As more and more do come out I think their limitations will become apparent to many.

What happens if you are within 75 miles of needing a charge and BAM, traffic on I-95 comes to a stop and you crawl along for the next 2 hours in 95 degree temps? Can you run these EVs out of power? If you do how hard would it be to have a service truck come out and recharge you? Or, would you just have to be towed somewhere?

I think that 30 percent number may be close for the US market, but for many other modern nations that number will probably be exceeded by 2025...or earlier.

Re traffic jam situations. That’s kind of where EV’s shine. Most of the power is used for motive forces. An EV can sit in traffic with the AC or heat on for days. With our leaf you could actually see the usage with AC on at a stop. Somewhere around 700 watts to keep it cool once it was cool. Our Tesla doesn’t actually have the ability to show the draw of the heat pump or AC but it’s probably about the same. Even a half full battery would allow 40 plus hours of AC operation in a traffic Jam. By then all the gas cars would be dry.

Triple A type vehicles are slowly gaining the ability to provide the equivalent of a few gallons of gas to get you to the next charger. It’ll come slowly.

Here is a pic of the kind of devices they use. Essentially it’s a little DCFC pack with four or five kWh of power. It’s modular so easy to add to.

 

[FL-JOE]

We discussed the new F150 EV and EVs in general when out with three other couples last night. No one said they would probably ever own one until they were to the point where they were only doing short local trips. All the couples were questioning the cost of ownership and operation and the general opinion was that by the time you pay a premium price for the vehicle and the electricity to charge it you would be better off in a vehicle getting 35mpg.

In 2020 54% of Americans had a household income less than $75,000. There is going to have to be a lot of cheaper EVs come off the assembly line for most folks to even think about trying one in the future.

 

[Voyageurs]

I think there is something to be said for that. Those making only short trips will find it hard to justify the 20 percent premium of many less expensive EV models out there. But those with longer commutes and lots of road trip mileage see a benefit pretty fast by switching to an EV. EV’s are super cheap to drive...depending on where you are of course. Price of gas and electric etc. This is why thy will catch on some places faster than others.

The other thing is, right now a lot of the sales are in the premium high performance sedan and SUV markets. There is really no price difference for cars in this sector of the market. By the time you get into a gas premium sports sedan or SUV that can keep up to its electric counterpart the price is about the same. That’s why BMW, Mercedes and Audi have taken such a beating against the Tesla model Y and 3.

Cheaper gas cars that compete against cars like the Leaf or Bolt or whatever still do well because if the price delta. I think that will take awhile to change yet.

Bottom line though, most legacy car manufacturers are spending very little on R and D for gas engines now as they know there will be virtually no market for them in 10 years. At some point people go for a test drive and it’s over pretty soon after that.

Trucks? Whole different market. I think gas and especially diesel trucks and big SUV’s will have a good run yet for years to come. They are pretty good at what they do.

 

[FL-JOE]

Harley Davidson has started to dive into the EV market. They have a model (Livewire) that can go apparently 146 miles after a 60 minute charge. Even though I have only observed one in person at a dealership, I suspect they will sell a few hundred nationwide. But at over $21,000 for a small lightweight motorcycle I doubt you will see very many and it may turn out to be a short lived experiment for them. But who knows, maybe they have more in the works.