Posted on 11/18/2013 8:44:30 AM PST by jazusamo
Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, seems to have reached cult status with green ideologues, as well as with many in the media. Musk's name often goes hand in hand with descriptive monikers like "visionary" and "genius." Of course, what Musk is really a genius at is getting politicians to fund his private businesses ventures with taxpayer money so they don't have to make a profit.
It might also be time to step back and ponder the genius of Musk's latest idea. It is for Tesla to compete with Ford's best selling F-series trucks by offering up an electric pickup truck.
According to Businessinsider.com, Musk claims that Tesla may have an electric pickup truck to compete with Ford's F150 in five years. Musk's bold dream comes to light at just around the same time as his even bolder dream of developing an electric, supersonic jet. Neither of Musk's two latest visions seems to be based on logic.
Pickup truck consumers tend to be a bit more conservative than average car buyers, as recently proven by a survey reported on here at NLPC . The idea of impressing their neighbors by showing off how environmentally conscientious they are because they bought a brand new Tesla pickup truck for tens of thousands of dollars more than they could have spent for a Ford probably will not have great appeal to them.
I actually do believe that many pickup truck owners are concerned with conservation. They are just a little smarter about it than the greenies who think that buying a heavily subsidized Tesla or Chevy Volt at the expense of taxpayers is the way to go. Much of the fees from hunting and fishing licenses (which I'm assuming are purchased more often by pickup truck owners than Tesla owners) go towards conservation efforts. While those buying such licenses that help support conservation pay to help the environment, electric vehicle (EV) buyers get paid with taxpayers' money in the form of the $7,500 federal tax credit that is offered on each vehicle. Worse yet, it is debatable that cars like Tesla and the Volt are doing anything to help the environment or meaningfully lessen America's foreign oil dependence.
Perhaps Elon Musk is on to something and those Ford F150 owners have just been chomping on their bits eagerly awaiting the arrival of an expensive, plug-in, electric pickup truck to replace their current models. I doubt it, though. I also do not think that an electric, supersonic jet is feasible. Even those experts in the field have been skeptical on the prospects for electric-powered cars , much less airplanes. Reports have shown that energy delivered by lithium-ion batteries is much less efficient than gasoline powered sources. Consider that it takes all night to charge the 450 pound battery in the Chevy Volt. You can then travel around 35 to 40 miles on the charge, the equivalent of how far a gallon of good old gasoline can get you.
It is not surprising that the same crowd that bought in to the initial lofty (but false) proclamations that the Chevy Volt would be the game-changer for General Motors now believe that plug-in Tesla pickup trucks are going to be a huge hit. Also, based on the continued trumpeting of EV hype by advocates for subsidizing cars like Teslas and Volts, it is not hard to understand the excitement generated by a green cult hero sharing a pipe dream of supersonic, electric jets. Maybe the green dream can include taxpayers paying for floating charging stations where Muskplanes can recharge on the fly. I guess they are going to need some really long extension cords.
Mark Modica is an NLPC Associate Fellow.
Nope, it won’t work. Maybe around southern engineer-geeks, but most rednecks aren’t going to be curious about a limited distance vehicle.
Business Insider is the faux lefty WSJ version of The Daily Beast.
Yup, an electric truck’ll do the trick.
Loaded range of - optimistically - 50 miles.
That’s the ticket.
But of course, since science is not a friend (or even a distance acquaintance) of the Obamadork or his Clown Show of West Wing Felon/Cretins, Musk will pull it off.
(Not to say I wouldn’t like an electric car...but battery technology and power grid capacity just ain’t hacking it for the next few years.)
“Musk’s name often goes hand in hand with descriptive monikers like “visionary” and “genius”.”
His company is named after the genius.
Heard they just opened a dealership in Tysons corner outside DC.
I couldn’t agree more, pickup truck buyers won’t go for the electric enviro prestige thing.
Several manufacturers, including GMC/Chevrolet and Dodge, already have hybrid pickup trucks. Idiots.
Musk and all of his cronies should be locked up for life for their crimes against the Earth’s natural resources.
Using the world’s scant supply of lithium for such a feckless and foolish use as an electric automobile is the highest possible crime.
They’re putting a store here in Indianapolis also.
My buddy’s daughter had to go to Chicago to purchase hers earlier this year.
They delivered it to her door on a transporter.
She had to have a body panel repaired, they sent a transporter to take it to Dayton, Oh and back.
That costs big $$.
A modern diesel engine is more efficient and “envirofriendly” than these electric POSs.
Give him enough of my tax dollars and the great genius is sure to make money.
Electric motors have incredible torque but batteries are heavy and slow to charge
Nat gas electric hybrids make sense. Or just straight nat gas
Nat gas is like 60c per therm and gas is like 3.50gal which is like 5x as much
Also we produce nat gas. No Saudi islamonazis funding
But the musk guy is obsessed with himself
I worked briefly for his nephews at solar city. Same thing All about themselves. Not the client
But of course if you have millions in free guvmint $ you don’t have to have scruples or business sense
You just have to be a lib
I learned long ago that life isn’t fair. But the good guys generally win in the end Just takes awhile
Remember that the lies fly around the world while the TRuth is still getting its boots on
Ford is now offering a F-150 with a turbocharged V6 that has an 11,300 lbs towing capacity.
http://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/specifications/towing/
Torque of 420 @ 2500 rpm.
http://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/specifications/
Good luck competing with that and keeping any range.
Volt is a hybrid, with gasoline tank onboard, gasoline engine, etc.
IOW not limited range. Like a Prius.
Business Insider is well named.
They’ll give you “the business” deep inside as you bend over.
Well said, that's what pickups are all about.
Thanks for the links.
>> “Ford is now offering a F-150 with a turbocharged V6 that has an 11,300 lbs towing capacity.” <<
.
Wow!
That translates to a 16,000 lbs GVW on a v6.
It’ll never work around here.
You cannot put twin Glass Packed Mufflers on an electric vehicle.
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