Reserving a Lightening tonight.

Garrett

Member
I was at a busy gas station sledding with 5 people two pumps were down there was starting to be a line for gas took us 20 min. To get all our sleds gassed up. All this time there is a Chevy Volt parked in front of one of the two remaining pumps. It's acuppants were busy shopping in the gas stations with there masks on. They came back out, got in there electric car and when we were leaving the driver of the car was busy reading a map. There is a separate parking area for cars of all types but these fine folks needed to park in front of a gas pump and make sure they got noticed.
What does the fact that they have their masks on have to do with this thread?
 

Tuck

Active member
did not see a mention of increased utility costs along with gas increase that is happening.
Did not see your cost of the EV and at 4K miles a year will take 20 years to hit 100k and like all electronics it will be out dated soon. I don't get paying 80k for a ev truck that will not run all day and be old tech within the year let alone 5-10 yrs from now how will it compare the the newest tech EV? I am not anti EV just does not add up yet, it may in time but not yet for me.
 

heckler56

Active member
The monthly cost upside of electric vehicles will need to get a heck of a lot higher than $50/mo for the general public to find the multitude of downsides palatable. Besides, cost is not even what is holding EV's back from larger adoption rates by the buying public.

They're fine for an around town car, if that is all you need a vehicle for. For literally any other use, battery technology and charging will need to improve by an order of magnitude for them to make sense, and neither of those considerations are experiencing the break-through necessary to make it happen any time soon. Tesla kinda sorta makes the best of the current situation in that regard, but it is still a distinct sacrifice as a consumer even for a Tesla buyer.

Personally, I'm also irked that every. darn. electric. vehicle. needs to scream "look at me in the electric car" to everyone else. It's one thing when it is a purpose built vehicle, but completely another when it is simply an EV version of an existing vehicle. The new EV F150 is a case in point. The most widely-sold vehicle in North American needs all kinds of aesthetic modifications (of absolutely zero utility) in order that the virtue signalers will take them up. Silly.
Not disagreeing with your points. My EV does look like a regular auto which is what I want. Sadly they have a “sound” device that puts out a spaceship sound to protect pedestrians from not knowing a car is nearby. Audi actually pumped sound into the cab on my former Q7 diesel because you could not hear the motor, inside or out!

EV and ICE have a place going forward depending on need and location but in today’s political environment the powers that be think one size fits all.
 

heckler56

Active member
good stuff guys. i am not for or against. have a 2010 tundra and i get the maintenance the upkeep but the price of an F150 Lightning is $70-80k because who buys the scaled down version at $55k...i dont live in my vehicle like some do so maybe easier to cost justify. what does insurance look like? more safety features so might be less than a gas truck..i would save average cost of ownership on is $1500 per year. oil changes, upkeep, tires, etc.
For what it is worth my F150 & EV were within $10k msrp. My Michigan no fault insurance is roughly 40% for the EV. I can only speculate the difference is related to american top selling vehicle (parts availability) vs German.

My concerns are for passengers and EMS safety with batteries. Has anyone seen a lithium fire? Evil not to mention possible electric shock.
 

heckler56

Active member
When mine arrives I am going to keep track of every expense. And then I will share it - good or bad - with all on this site and anybody else that wants to know.
I have a Charge Point home charger. It is wireless and app driven so it keeps all that in the history by month.
 

renegade600

Active member
Cheap to operate, until the electric suppliers figure out how hard to bone everyone for electricity.....

Also what happens to the residual value of the vehicle after 5 years of use and the batteries only take a 70% charge and the electrical connections get some moisture and corrosion? Basically becomes a paperweight......

Is there even any recycling of lithium? Or just bury the batteries in a big pit next to wind turbine blades? Infrastructure to support charging, we can't even get the roads up to date.......

What happens when the tax credits go away?
 

heckler56

Active member
heckler56, what is and is there a towing capacity? and how does this affect miles/charge? Just curious as to if you were a utilitarian pick-up truck user or just a pick-up truck driver with the numbers you shared with us and again what does actual "use" of a truck do to those numbers if you had. and the clear cost savings is substantial depending on what one is doing with it and those are obviously here and now numbers, but....10 years down the road when batteries may need replacement or who even knows what life span is on wheel motors but would be curious at that time what those numbers factored into the cost to operate will show then? Very interesting numbers heckler56 and we are in the infancy of all of this yet.
Mine is rated for 5k towing. Based on people’s comments pulling Airstream trailers out west it appears EVs take a 50% decrease in range towing. Factors like hills, a/c, heat, ambient temps all make a difference. The only towing mine will see is moving the trailer in the yard if I am too lazy to pull the tractor out.
 
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