2024 Electric Ram

[knightjp]

To be honest, I'm not convinced that electric power is the way to go for vehicles of the future. Right now, if I'm driving down the road and I see my fuel gauge running close to empty, I just turn in and fill up within minutes. And I know I have fuel for the next few days.
With battery charging, you have to wait about 30 minutes minimum to get a decent charge; even on those fast charging stations.
Next... there is no standard charging plug or station for all electric vehicles in terms of an infrastructure, simply because, while Tesla has proven that it is possible, most of the major manufacturers aren't completely sold out on electric power and aren't banking on it as the future.
To them, the fuel that will give them the same freedoms that the Petrol gives us will come from Hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles.
https://youtu.be/-gBQ63O1zrw

Another thing is weight.. Batteries are still quite heavy and for a truck, that's something that we look into when it comes to payload rating, etc. Now those of us who don't do much towing or hauling loads, it won't matter that much. I mean, a Raptor can go electric. It doesn't have the load capacity any way. It will just be a full size toy.
The point being that the weight of the battery itself will take away from the payload. The electric motor torque could give the truck more towing capacity since that is what we need.
However it has been proven that while the range on empty, could be around 500 miles, we can se a significant decrease in range when loaded or off road usage.

I'm sure many of these points have been made in previous posts, but for me, just highlighting them as a collective, makes for a very clean argument why I won't be giving up my V8 anytime soon, and I don't think that any serious working trucker will either.

 

[tidefan1967]

To be honest, I'm not convinced that electric power is the way to go for vehicles of the future. Right now, if I'm driving down the road and I see my fuel gauge running close to empty, I just turn in and fill up within minutes. And I know I have fuel for the next few days.
With battery charging, you have to wait about 30 minutes minimum to get a decent charge; even on those fast charging stations.
Next... there is no standard charging plug or station for all electric vehicles in terms of an infrastructure, simply because, while Tesla has proven that it is possible, most of the major manufacturers aren't completely sold out on electric power and aren't banking on it as the future.
To them, the fuel that will give them the same freedoms that the Petrol gives us will come from Hydrogen and fuel cell vehicles.
https://youtu.be/-gBQ63O1zrw

Another thing is weight.. Batteries are still quite heavy and for a truck, that's something that we look into when it comes to payload rating, etc. Now those of us who don't do much towing or hauling loads, it won't matter that much. I mean, a Raptor can go electric. It doesn't have the load capacity any way. It will just be a full size toy.
The point being that the weight of the battery itself will take away from the payload. The electric motor torque could give the truck more towing capacity since that is what we need.
However it has been proven that while the range on empty, could be around 500 miles, we can se a significant decrease in range when loaded or off road usage.

I'm sure many of these points have been made in previous posts, but for me, just highlighting them as a collective, makes for a very clean argument why I won't be giving up my V8 anytime soon, and I don't think that any serious working trucker will either.

I assume gasoline is still pretty cheap in the UAE? 89 is up to $3.30 here and I’m not slowing down a bit.

 

[firedfly]

Right now, if I'm driving down the road and I see my fuel gauge running close to empty, I just turn in and fill up within minutes. And I know I have fuel for the next few days.
With battery charging, you have to wait about 30 minutes minimum to get a decent charge; even on those fast charging stations.
Next... there is no standard charging plug or station for all electric vehicles in terms of an infrastructure,

For day-to-day driving, you charge at home and never have to worry about stopping somewhere to charge. Just plug-in when you get home and you're set.

For out of town trips, you're right. I had a Tesla Model 3 until a few weeks ago. When we'd take it on road trips, we'd stop for 20-45 minutes every time we needed to charge. With Tesla, they have a good supercharger network to use, but it still required a fair amount of planning (e.g. plan to have a sit-down meal for the long stops). Right now, I'd be hesitant to take a different type of electric vehicle on a long trip due to the lack of a charging network. As you said, the charging infrastructure isn't there. Perhaps by the time 2024 rolls around that will have changed.

 

[British Bulldog]

I don’t know much about solar, electric vehicles etc but I had an old Audi A6 years ago that had a sunroof which also was a solar panel. It kept the aircon running I think that’s all it did. I wonder why they can’t just put a whole roof sized solar panel up there, like our panoramic sunroofs?
It would at least charge SOME of the time right? Especially in the hot sunshine states

 

[LSU04_08]

I don’t know much about solar, electric vehicles etc but I had an old Audi A6 years ago that had a sunroof which also was a solar panel. It kept the aircon running I think that’s all it did. I wonder why they can’t just put a whole roof sized solar panel up there, like our panoramic sunroofs?
It would at least charge SOME of the time right? Especially in the hot sunshine states

They definitely could, but that would be about like making an engine that can run on anything. These people see dollar signs, as do everyone involved in the process. Electric companies are gonna be the first in line to get their piece of the pie and if there's a solar panel charging the batteries then that's a revenue loss for stores, and trickles up to the electric companies.

 

[tron67j]

EVs will be there for those that want them. Gas will be there for people like me who don't. Not all states will ban sales of new gas/diesel vehicles (note it is sales, not register; you should still be able to buy one in a different state and register it in your home state). And the infrastructure is there and will not just go away overnight, I imagine gas will be around long after I don't need it anymore.

 

[PNW-Ram]

In the 3/4 ton segment, regular cab trucks are more common. I don’t need all that payload capacity.
98% of the time I am by myself. If they made a 1/2 ton 4 door with an 8’ bed I would consider it but Dodge/Ram stopped building them in 2008.
The last iteration of that combo they had 8 lug axles. Basically a light duty 3/4 ton truck.

In my experience, that's not true at all.
The last truck I bought was a '17 3500 4x4. I looked at Dave Smith motors, and he had over 750 trucks that were 2500s or 3500s. 700 were 4x4s. 699 (more or less) had a Cummins. 0 of them had 2 doors. None. Not one single cab out of more than 750 trucks.

They are so rare that Ram doesn't even sell them above the lowest trim levels. When I bought mine, leather seats, heated seats, nav system, good stereo weren't even options. I was happy to find one with the upgraded cloth seats and power windows/locks.

On the good side of things, they sell so slowly that I got $12-13,000 off MSRP for a "loaded" 3500 - running boards, 5th wheel, bed liner, 2 220amp alternators, the "good" 5 inch stereo, trailer brakes, upfitter switches, limited slip, 4x4 and a Cummins for $41k.

 

[PNW-Ram]

I don’t know much about solar, electric vehicles etc but I had an old Audi A6 years ago that had a sunroof which also was a solar panel. It kept the aircon running I think that’s all it did. I wonder why they can’t just put a whole roof sized solar panel up there, like our panoramic sunroofs?
It would at least charge SOME of the time right? Especially in the hot sunshine states

It might provide enough power on a sunny day to run a fan, but not enough to run the AC. A station wagon with a roof covered solar panel wouldn't charge the batteries fast enough to matter. A big residential solar panel at best pulls down 350-400 Watts - which is just enough to run your headlights, if the high beams are on. There's just not enough energy to make a difference to the electric motors.

 

[British Bulldog]

Maybe that was it then, internal a/c fan? As I can’t even remember which year I had it, I definitely can’t remember details! Cheers!

 

[HEMIMANN]

In the news today, Ford reports 150,000 pre-orders for their as yet to be in production EV F150 pickup truck. Must be lots of city pickup truck owners? In my area, upper midwest USA, EV chargers are few and far between. I understand the federal infrastructure bill has some funding for them, but this is a classic chicken and egg new infrastructure startup, just like 100 years ago with Ford Model T and gas stations.

I will miss the engine era in the remaining years I've got left, but it looks like we gotta end it for our descendant's future. Seems we were too successful and there's too many people. Interesting that electric vehicles were the 1st vehicles due to Nikola Tesla's practical electric motor, but there weren't practical batteries to match, so gasoline engines took over.

Ford plans to add 450 jobs to ramp up F-150 Lightning production

Ford Motor Co. is staffing up in order to meet strong demand for its all-electric F-150 Lightning Truck.

finance.yahoo.com

 

[2012RAM1500RT]

It's just my personal opinion but for me I'm so glad that I got to live my youth in the greatest American car products ever. That was "To me" (Everybody else can have your own opinion) from the mid '50s to the early '70s. Beautiful cars with big engines and everyone that wanted to could work on them with their own taste on improvements. Other than the newer Challengers, Camaros and Mustangs there's nothing that's made today interesting. Just more push button technology point A to point B vehicles. I'm not knocking cars of today by any means but they don't have any character just overpriced vehicles. I'm still brand loyal but I just choose by what I like the best from what they have to offer. So me looking "forward" to electric vehicles? No, but I have no choice but to go along with the times no matter how boring it gets! No point in trashing my opinion if you don't agree, I won't trash yours! To each their own.

 

[HEMIMANN]

FWIW, @2012RAM1500RT I'm in the same boat as you.
Not impressed with technoglitz via video game coders. Yes, there's some good things involved, but tech is a toy that's worshipped as some kind of idol above all else. Too many've lost touch with reality.