Ford Aims for Revolution with $30k Electric Truck | Hacker News Reader

Ford Aims for Revolution with $30k Electric Truck

thedrive.com

35 points01-_-20 comments

Can I put a sheet of plywood or drywall in the back? If not, then just make another SUV like everyone else... an extended cab with a tiny truck bed makes no sense to craftsmen.

You can on the Maverick. The tailgate has a "middle" position that puts its top edge level with the tops of the wheel well humps in the bed, and you put your sheets on top of them.

Well they make sense to more casual users, being able to throw bikes, gear, or tools in the back is great. How big that market is however is hard to say. The Subaru Baja certainly wasn't a big success

Because it's all a lifestyle signal, not for actual use. The Baja sent the wrong signal. Simple as that.

Most of the people I know who drive trucks actually use them, even if only infrequently. There is a segment of people who only use them to carry bikes or the home depot run, but capturing that market seems to have been tricky for companies in the past

Same truck, but Ars Technica's article: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44865075

And isn't the Slate aiming for $20k? Maybe they're cutting out more features?

I think the Slate 20-25k pricetag includes the 7500 tax credit, which will no longer exist when it comes out. They'll both be around 30k. Slate has announced they're no longer targeting sub-20k after the EV credit.

It also looks like their simpler EV process (ie cost saving) is basically to do what Tesla does, and use the same battery pack and platform for all their vehicles, as well as simplify the design down as much as possible. I think it'll be exciting and I hope they're successful with it

I'm all for it - I want it to happen, but I'm driving a used EV right now living the good life. The age of EV hype is gone, now we need real products.

A truck for who though?

If the truck is intended to tow, it will need a reasonable range to be useful.

If it's just intended to be a shiny large vehicle for suburban people buying their way to an identity, then we might be talking.

I feel like it's the same target market as the Maverick, but the (certainly smaller currently) subset of that market that prefers the drivability of EVs.

I think if they can actually pull off this vehicle at this price point, it will be nice, though maybe still not successful.

But I'm very happy to see US carmakers trying to figure out how to do cheaper EVs. I hope others will follow suit (and that Tesla will get their heads out of their asses and work on this too).

We need 50 mile PHEVs more than anything. I think there's two decades of these while EV economies of scale and charging infrastructure builds out.

Basically, you design a skateboard EV, but way less batteries and you put a recharge engine instead of the frunk. So I don't even think it would be a major departure from the current generation of EV engineering.

I think this can challenge a new price point until sodium ion batteries hit their stride and really change the economics of EVs.

So take out about $2000 worth of batteries and add $10000 worth of engine, transmission and other complexities to lower the price?

Don’t worry, when they release 50 mile range PHEVs they’ll just move the goalpost to 100 mile range. It’s like hydrogen, meant to maintain the status quo vs zero emission (via solar, hydro, wind and nuclear).

I believe 50 miles is commonly chosen because something like 70% of non-rural drivers drive less than 50 miles per day. With a 50 mile PHEV and level 1 charging at home at least half of non-rural drivers would be able to operate most of the time in EV mode.

Hybrid vehicles are an artifact of the CAFE regulations. Manufacturers subsidized them to meet their CAFE quotas. CAFE has been neutered, so their premium over pure gasoline vehicles will go up significantly.

I live in rural areas and drive a Phev. It's piddly 15 mile range sucks and I would love one that does 50. I would be all electric except for long distance, which I do 500 mile trips frequently with poor recharging infrastructure.

I am not some shill for the oil company.

EVs are a huge pain in the ass out here. EV range is a big fat lie as well 400 miles, but it degrades 10%, but you only charged to 90%. If you use AC heat lose another 15% range, 10-20mph permaheadwind out of the west? Another 10%. Choppy stress cracks? Another 5%.

If phevs has been pushed more we would have maximized battery supply to the most electrification of daily miles driven, and they still can.

A recharge engine doesn't need transmissions, gearboxes, and can be smaller and run Atkinson cycle.

The US government continues to botch charging infrastructure, incentives, domestic battery production, etc. Phevs can pave over a great desk of that.

Would you be willing to pay $10,000 over a gasoline vehicle for a 50 mile PHEV?

Certainly there are some people that are. It's the intersection of people in situations like yours and those who are willing to pay to do their part for the environment. But that's a pretty small set of people. A large minority of people are in the first bracket and a small minority in the second bracket. The intersected set is pretty small.

With incentives like CAFE reducing that $10,000 number the market was much larger.

Huh, funny, is that how much a PHEV costs relative to an EV?

No?

Because a PHEV is basically the same as an EV, except you take 4/5s of the battery out (and make four more PHEVs from that supply).

THEN, you put a nice compact rotary engine that runs at one optimized speed and an alternator. Does that sound like it costs $10,000? Does your lawnmower cost $10,000?

"It's a pretty small set of people" Dude, you live in on the West Coast, it is so blindingly obvious. There's about, what, 40 states between the two coasts? Right, NOBODY lives there.

> No?

No, relative to a gasoline car. Reread my comment.

> "It's a pretty small set of people"

Second time you misread my comment. I said a "large minority" of people are in your situation. IOW, slightly less than half the population. But how many people are in your situation AND are willing to pay a significant premium for PHEV? That's the small set.

I drive an electric in Saskatchewan, which is likely far more hostile to electric than wherever you live. Most people there won't spend $3000 extra for a PHEV vs a gasoline car, let alone significantly more than that.

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