Ford has unveiled a retro '70s concept electric pickup | Hacker News Reader

Ford has unveiled a retro '70s concept electric pickup

mashable.com

40 pointsmrfusion13 comments

The most interesting part of the story is the $3900 electric crate motor that can now be ordered direct from Ford. I'm interested in the impact this will have on the electric motor retrofit scene. I'm not familiar with all the options out there, but it seems like current retrofit solutions are either very DIY-engineering (i.e. salvaged Tesla drivetrains) or very expensive integrated systems (i.e. electric GT's offerings). OEM availability of retrofit motors (and eventually batteries) could shake this up majorly. A comparison might be how the ubiquitous availability of new Chevy/Ford high performance V8 crate engines has fed the American hot-rodding scene for decades.

I think this is a very very critical aspect to getting carbon neutral. If a functional drop-in motor is that cheap, and maybe 100 miles of range battery is another couple grand, you know what?

We should have a retrofit tax credit that basically covers that. All the beater cars that people commute with will stay in the market for another 15 years until truly cheap or second-hand EVs work their way through the system.

So why not give a massive distributed labor stimulus which will produce an army of grass roots worker familiar with the future drivetrain technology for the foreseeable future?

Make this practically free. $5000/car labor included. See what the market produces.

A big point against "cash for clunkers" is that it drains away the exact affordable transport that people at the poverty level need to survive. Regardless of the perverse incentives that led to rich people living in suburbs and commuting to the city, while poor people live in urban ghettos and reverse-commute to the suburbs, it's the way things are now.

And the rural areas aren't going to have functional public transport until self-driving becomes feasible in ??? years.

The fact is that modern ICE cars are pretty durable. They're going to last a long time, and the recent used car spike and component shortage will likely cause cars to stay ANOTHER 5 years longer than normal.

This is pretty cool. I was looking into what I would do when my 30 year old engine finally throws a rod through the hood and was interested in building an electric pickup. There aren't many electric motors out there for large vehicles. Mostly stuff for small gauge mine locomotives that would be okay for the most part in cars.

The hard part though would be setting up an E4OD electronic transmission to work with this. Would need to build a computer to control shifting or just replace the entire thing with a manual permanently in second gear or something.

I was thinking of connecting it directly to the front differential as a secondary means of propulsion around town. I would imagine you might be able to use it as 4wd on demand, too.

Ignoring the Ford 'concept', I like the price of the crate motor, especially considering many other crate motors can cost more still.

I have a car sitting, waiting for the time to do an engine swap, but reckon that an electric swap was the better goal. This may end up making the project more convenient to build.

What would you do for batteries?

I was looking at salvaging used Nissan Leaf batteries. The vehicle they'd be going in is an Isuzu SUV, so it has the space and capacity for multiple modules from said packs.

Though not as energy dense, I believe the cost savings and ease of replacement compared to the Tesla packs, are more cost effective.

Reason of keeping this SUV is for sentimental value and utility. Daily driver is a Subaru Impreza, and can't nearly carry as much or take as much of a beating on trails.

24v100Ah LiFePO4 battery pack is $428 on AliExpress. You need 20 packs to get 48KWh,480V, 96KW, 400kg battery pack.

Batteries are getting surprisingly cheap now. If you build your own modules you can probably make a smallish truck sized pack for less than $4000. The best part about those old Ford trucks is, that with a twin beam suspension, there is a HUGE area underneath the beds to put batteries that is protected from road debris.

The hard part of electric cars right now is usually the motor controller and the charge controller. I have a feeling you will need to murder someone's grandma to get a hold of one of these crate motors in the next 10 years.

Aye, the planned conversion vehicle is a traditional SUV, body-on-frame, with ample storage for batteries under the body in plentiful places.

Gas tank is 21 U.S. Gallons, and with existing 4wd, the core idea would be to remove the existing axles and using two electric motors in each differential's place. Batteries placed centrally under the vehicle, under the hood, and existing underside spare tire mount (relocating the spare tire to the rear-door.

Likewise, the difficult part is physically assembling the vehicle and the unobtainium controllers.

This is cool PR, but given today's safety regulations, it is extremely unlikely to ever see it going in production. Retro and safety don't mix very well. Opel has also made an one-off Manta GSe [1], which really got me drooling. But no. Not for sale either.

[1] https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a36570065/electric-opel-ma...

They're only selling the crate motor.

And if Ford wanted to sell the truck itself, they could design a modern frame with the same aesthetic...

The idea that Ford couldn't manufacture this because the 1978 truck didn't have crumple zones or air bags is ridiculous.

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