Posted on 06/22/2021 8:02:07 AM PDT by Red Badger
When President Joe Biden took Ford’s electric F-150 Lightning pickup for a test drive in Dearborn, Mich., in May, the event was more than a White House photo op. It marked a new phase in an accelerating shift from gas-powered cars and trucks to electric vehicles, or EVs.
In recent months, global auto manufacturers have released plans to electrify their vehicle fleets by 2030 or 2035, setting up a race to see who can most quickly shift entirely away from producing vehicles powered by gasoline.
, I see this moment as pivotal because unlike EVs from manufacturers such as Toyota or Tesla, the electric F-150 does not entirely rely on green consumer choice. It places the electric vehicle transition squarely in the hands of mass-market consumers who don’t choose vehicles based on environmental considerations. Like Biden, former President Donald Trump promised to create jobs in the auto industry. But Trump sought to do it by perpetuating a fossil-fueled system that is the largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Auto makers benefited from some Trump policies in the short term, including the rollback of fuel economy standards. Now, however, they seem to be embracing the challenge of competing globally in a climate-constrained future.
As an environmental historian, I see this moment as pivotal because unlike EVs from manufacturers such as Toyota or Tesla the electric F-150 does not entirely rely on green consumer choice. It places the electric vehicle transition squarely in the hands of mass-market consumers who don’t choose vehicles based on environmental considerations, and who are buying far more light trucks—pickups, sport-utility vehicles and minivans—than cars today.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
“. Considering the vast majority of P/U drivers who never tow anything”
Ignorant statement. The vast majority of truck owners do tow or haul things. It’s a liberal belief that truck owners are some kind of penis envy rednecks that never use their trucks.
Truck owners are not some kind of metrosexual cucks that drive in the city.
You're reading it wrong. This means that it can take a discharged battery FROM 15% OF CHARGE TO 80% OF CHARGE in 44 minutes...............
They may haul something occasionally but if you walk through the Walmart parking lot and look at the paint in the beds of most pickups, they are pretty pristine.
Mine stays pristine because it has a spray liner as many do, so I don’t buy your supposed observations. I call total BS to that. Many have used beds and trailer hitches. Look again.
If you've ever driven an electric go-cart, you'd know why. :-)
I'm not an environmentalist whackjob by any stretch of the imagination and I've actually driven an electric vehicle (Tesla Model 3.) I wouldn't buy one because of so-called man-made climate change because we here on FR know that's bullshit.
I'm a technology freak. I like the technology that's in the electric car and honestly, I really like the torque and acceleration they have vs. gasoline-powered vehicles.
That right there defines the beginning and end of my liking electric vehicles.
IMO they will *never* be the dominant mode of transportation precisely because of the limitations of our electrical grid and power generation infrastructure. It's not ramping up fast enough to meet the demand of electric vehicles in the 2030-2035 time frame the automakers have put out there. It takes a minimum of 10 years to get a nuclear power plant approved (based on what I've read) and years more to build it out.
That means simply put: switching one's entire auto-line over to electric in such a short amount of time isn't feasible. Therefore, electric cars as the dominant mode of transportation in this country ain't gonna happen. At least not in the lifetime I have remaining (I'm 59.)
Electric vehicles to me are nothing more than a "fun toy" to have, or a status symbol for the environmental whacko greenie progressive libtard a-holes.
Useless? Based on what? I've seen Tesla's driving just fine in the cold here in the midwest. Even at 27 below during the last polar vortex.
You Don't Need A Full-Size Pickup Truck, You Need a Cowboy Costume
"According to Edwards’ data, 75 percent of truck owners use their truck for towing one time a year or less (meaning, never). Nearly 70 percent of truck owners go off-road one time a year or less. And a full 35 percent of truck owners use their truck for hauling—putting something in the bed, its ostensible raison d’être—once a year or less.
Monkeys could fly out Ford CEO Jim Farley's butt today too, but I wouldn't bet on it.
> Also it seems like the loss of revenue from gas taxes will have to be made up somehow too. <
The Democrats in my neck of the woods are already working in that, as they have lost revenue from the pandemic. Some of their ideas (seriously):
1. Put a camera on each end of every bridge. Then when you cross a bridge, you get a bill in the mail. This, of course, makes every bridge a toll bridge.
2. Pay a fee based on how many miles you drive every year. My state has annual mandatory car inspections. So it’s quite easy for them to get everyone’s mileage.
That’s what I’ve heard so far. But given that our governor is a tyrant, I expect additional burdensome ideas in the future.
What they won’t sell to are their core pickup buyer market who are suburban or semi rural guys who use their trucks like cars during the week but travel out of town on the weekend for fun, often towing things. Rural farm types like me certainly won’t buy them, I could barely get to town and back on the range it offers.
Ford would have a market for them if they’d make a basic two door work truck version. Contractors who work 9-5 in town with short distances between jobs who park the trucks at night for charging would likely buy them. They don’t need the range and their schedules are predictable enough to plan charging times. Ford won’t do that though, they’ll build all top of the line loaded models to maximize profits. After a selling frenzy for the first six months the sales will fall by about 90% as people figure out they’re not really practical.
To get a ‘basic’ pickup, no bells & whistles, no PW, no power seats, etc, is practically impossible nowadays...............
From what I have read it gets 80 miles under load. Then you recharge it for many hours. So useless.
Ford also engineered the F-150 Lightning to serve as a backup generator and says a fully-charged truck can supply up to three days of electricity for the average household in the event of a power outage.
Power outages caused by the politicians like in California and Texas.
Edwards is a liberal source of journalism who often gets the market dead wrong. It is where people like you make ridiculous claims.
Well then princess, I’m sure you can find plenty of articles that support your premise...
...or you can simply STFU.
Me neither. Dear Ford - I spit on your electric truck!
You won’t go far even with a new one with new batteries. And the charts are rigged to favor EV’s. In the real world things are worse. They recommend that you use only heated seats in an EV, and freeze the rest of yourself. Ever been in a snow storm where the defroster can barely keep the ice off the windshield while you are driving down the road? And the fact of the matter is that EV’s are both smog and Chemical polluters. You ever look at the environmental damage from lithium mining, and the old batteries? And it may take 30,000 gallons to put out one that is burning. What about the runoff from that? Toxic? EV’s make no sense until a very different power source is developed. You are simply a sheep being led into a form of transportation that will make it much easier for the powers that be to control you. And the grid can’t handle what we have. They can’t even keep the lights and home heat on down in Texas. The list of issues with EV’s. goes on and on.
Electric Vehicles in Winter
https://www.driveelectricvt.com/winter
I fart in the general direction of their electric truck.
Which means that it gets less than 30miles in below zero temps. This is because of reduced battery efficiency and having to run electric heat and defrosters. Did I mention that when the battery goes dead then you have no heat. And the range drops off with age.
Oh...Many of these electric vehicles have battery heaters. You have to keep them plugged in while they are sitting idle in your driveway or garage. This means they are spinning your electric meter even when they are supposedly charged up. And they are burning battery power sitting in the parking lot while you are buying your groceries. And it must be fun always having to plug them in outside during bad weather. I mean not everyone has a garage.
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