New electric Ram

[mcarey]

I just found this tidbit online. I know other cars and stations are getting this fast as well.
The Tesla Supercharger network is a different beast. These are proprietary Tesla charging devices that can add up to 320kms (200 miles) of range in just 15 minutes. The Supercharger network is exclusive to Tesla owners – at least, for now – and the network stretches from coast to coast in Canada.

200 miles is roughly half (for ease of math sake) of the total mileage from a full charge on a new model S or X. Significantly more for the lower capacity model 3. That'll cost ya what 6 to 8 bucks? That'll get me approximately 20-30 miles in my power wagon!

 

[GTyankee]

Out in the California desert, 1 person was able to get a Gov't Grants
His town is a ways away from things like hospitals & other things that the elderly might need.

This is a video of what he has done so far

How a California farming town embraced electric cars

#electriccars #evGetting low income communities to transition to costly electric cars is one of the biggest climate challenges faced by the state and nation....

www.youtube.com

 

[timbrwolf1121]

I'd like to see ram do a hybrid 5.7 electric 4X4. Basically a normal truck but given the advancements in electric tech. Front wheel electric drives on an RWD truck would be about the same weight as a normal 4X4 if not a bit heavier, but the launches would be RIDICULOUS. Kick it in to super cruise on the highway and it pulls with the most efficient combination of electric front and normal RWD.

 

[Evguy1]

I'd like to see ram do a hybrid 5.7 electric 4X4.

I would prefer a series hybrid so electric drive front and rear for the torque and a 4 cylinder diesel genset to power it. Should be a rocket ship with very good towing power.

 

[2012RAM1500RT]

You'd think that they would make EV's look like a normal vehicle we're use to to try to win people over but they all seem to be in a contest of who can make the ugliest EV in the process. No chance of winning me over being fugly and electric too. "ALL" EV's are ugly, I'm not leaving anyone out. If they are trying to take the ugly trophy from the Smart Car they are doing it, I just don't know which one they should give it to!

 

[BobCinEHT]

The assumption above is that the vast majority volume of EV owners have a dedicated charging spot they can connect to every day and night. While l, conceptually, think the idea of using cars for surge capacity is interesting, there are certainly concerns with how this works on so many levels. For example, do you pay to charge an empty car to full, they get to suck the power, then you pay again to charge it back up again? How about the millions of people that park on roads, in public garages, etc. The point is that any action taken has multiple reactions. As electric demand goes up, is everyone on board with more nuclear power to provide the demand? Solar (inefficient still), hydro (dams create problems), and wind (unreliable for on-demand) have no where near the capacity to support the possible future. Can one argue on any of these points? Sure can and probably have science behind it. But there is no scaling up currently in progress to meet the theorized future of us all electrically zipping along. And, to call out the storage problem, no scalable solution to recycle the millions of batteries already shot plus increased load from EVs is even in planning. Sure, ideas such as use batteries from cars at the end of life as power storage for homes is discussed. But I Imagine it will be a tough sell to get people to accept a mostly used item as their power source when they will have to shoulder the cost for hardware to use it, buy it, and then recycle it.

All the above is not from an anti-electric person. I just want realistic answers to all these issues before I contribute to a growing set of problems. Kind of a "devil I know" status right now, staying with ICE.

Yeah, that was interesting until you said "there is no scaling up currently in progress to meet the theorized future". That's when I realized that you're pulling words out of your kiester. Hahaha

 

[Jdemp]

Here is a test by TFL (great group of truck guys) of the rivian all electric truck. Watch the entire video it’s worth it.

Number 1 take away for me was the amazing power and that they stated it towed well (because it’s heavy due to the batteries which is actually the main issue with current EVs).

Number 2 take away was the absolutely terrible range towing.

EV in my opinion is not near ready for the truck market. Not unless you only tow down the street.

On the other hand the power alone in this video shows that one day it “could” be great.

Finally: The All-Electric Rivian R1T Takes On The World's Toughest Towing Test!

Thanks to Gen-Y Hitch for sponsoring this video! Head to ( https://www.genyhitch.com ) to see their full line of hitches.( https://tfl-studios.com/ ) Check o...

m.youtube.com

 

[Jim Carelas]

I live 20 miles inland from San Diego Ca
This town could be called a San Diego Suburb, the towns West of me are so close together, they may as well be called San Diego
On the other hand, driving East from my town, houses are spaced much further apart, with horse ranching & a few Avocado Ranches & then everything fades away to nature for 100 miles before there is a small city & then the next city is Yuma Arizona 60 miles away.
Between those 2 areas, there are only Farms & many of them are abandoned.

What i am leading up to, i don't know of a single charging station, where the public is allowed to use.

I have heard of 1 station closer to downtown San Diego, it is suppose to have every modern fuel in todays vehicles, including that water fuel, whatever that is called

Good ole El Cajon.!!

 

[Evguy1]

You'd think that they would make EV's look like a normal vehicle we're use to

You know what this means. Your an old guy like me and want what we are used to. Make a cool EV that looks like a 69 Camaro and sell millions of them. The problem with that is that believe it or not most of the population would not know or care what a 69 Camaro looks like. I know it's blasphemy but true. The younger people if they want car at all want something futuristic and styling they like and from a marketing standpoint they are the growing market where us old guys are a dying market...literally.

 

[big-red-truck]

If I had an EV, and I was headed out of town on the highway, and ran out of battery power, there is no way to get a ride to te nearest charging station and get a 5 gallon can of electricity. Also EV's are actually dirtier to the air than gas engines (because they get their power from the coal fired power plants)
There are also devastating effects to the environment as part of the batery construction and disposal processes.

This is why I will never own an EV

 

[Gruntledlark]

You know fairly rudimentary math actually suggests otherwise. Assuming every vehicle in the US today was magically changed to an EV over night, the one real problem that could happen would be if they all were to be charged at exactly the same time. Current grid capacity would be absolutely be exceeded - similar to how we see issues when everyone fires up their ACs or whatever. However, we also know that isn't a reality because well... magic isn't real, and statistically there is no chance that all ~270 million vehicles would be charging at the same time for a tremendous amount of reasons.

That said, we know that in 2020, the US grid generated 4,007TWh of electricity. Using average mileage and kWh figures (12,000 miles, 0.3 kWh), one would need ~3,600kWh per year. So again, if magically all US cars were instantly EVs, they would need a total of ~1000TWh of power per year. Which is just about 25% of what we produced in 2020.

Could the grid effectively generate and serve that additional power, I'm not sure, but again this is all with done with the pretense of magically having every vehicle in the country be an EV over night which we know is not a reality. I'd imagine some decent management would need to be in place, and upgrades would definitely have to be done to handle the additional consumption; though I am far from an EE. However it's easily safe to say that it is a far, far, stretch from not being "sufficient enough to provide the amount of electricity for even 50% of all people to own a EV", and is very likely capable of dealing with a majority of EVs, if not all. Today.

chargehub.com should be able to show you all the stations around you. They definitely are still quite less frequent than your normal gas station in many places, that's for sure. But at the same time, you'll also be living at "gas station".

Most power stations in the US are already at capacity to generate that 4000 TWh. Generating 25% more WILL require more capacity. Even if the EVs aren't all charging at the same time there will still be a drag on the grid.

 

[2012RAM1500RT]

You know what this means. Your an old guy like me and want what we are used to. Make a cool EV that looks like a 69 Camaro and sell millions of them. The problem with that is that believe it or not most of the population would not know or care what a 69 Camaro looks like. I know it's blasphemy but true. The younger people if they want car at all want something futuristic and styling they like and from a marketing standpoint they are the growing market where us old guys are a dying market...literally.

That's the same thing they said about the retro Challenger, Camaro and the Mustang but if you look people of all ages buy and drive them. Shows me all the "Knowledgeable" higher ups are not always right and don't speak for the masses, they speak for themselves. Not going to argue about it, it's not that important to me but there are a lot of today's customers that feel the way I do also. With that said I will bow out and let the future gens have it. That's why no one is going to talk any old people like me into wanting something that ugly.

 

[DA Smith]

I don't know why everyone is so electric vehicle happy ?

Say that you buy a brand new electric car for $35,000
Then you have to buy a Battery Charger or other power source. You would want to have 220 Volt, because it cheaper.
Now you have tripled your power bill.
When you are on a trip, where will you charge up ? Is there an armed guard at the location, because there are going to be irritated drivers that are in a rush & you are in the way.
Are those charging stations going to be open 24/7
You are forced to evacuate & you need to charge up to leave the area.
You have had your electric vehicle for 3 1/2 years, it is almost paid off & your Battery takes a crap. Do you buy another electric vehicle, or do you pay $15,000 for another battery ?

I agree 100% I am not interested in any stinking electric vehicle , if I bought a golf cart it would be Gas powered! These idiots are talking green energy with these vehicles and it's total BS! Mining the material for the manufacturing of the battery is not green and in some parts of the world where the elements are mined they are using child labor and don't care about their safety or health. When the battery is used up there is no green way to dispose of it, kind of getting rid of nuclear waste! The power grids as they are now will be overloaded in the U.S. when enough of these things are on the road plus I don't see the infrastructure available now to support taking a long trip in these things! Gas or Diesel is available in almost any nook or cranny in the country today and it is almost impossible to run out of fuel unless you use poor judgment and don't watch your fuel gage! Then they are not green because electricity don't just come out of an electric outlet, it has to be generated and to do that it takes burning Coal, Natural Gas, or nuclear power. Hydro generated power plants are very few so they don't count in the equation. I have no need nor do I care about electric vehicles of any brand no to mention losing the Great sound of a V8 with dual exhaust screaming intake and tire burning all at the same time! I say **** on EV!!!!

 

[Evguy1]

If I had an EV, and I was headed out of town on the highway, and ran out of battery power, there is no way to get a ride to te nearest charging station and get a 5 gallon can of electricity. Also EV's are actually dirtier to the air than gas engines (because they get their power from the coal fired power plants)
There are also devastating effects to the environment as part of the batery construction and disposal processes.

This is why I will never own an EV

Yea, this is a problem with us old guys, forgetting to fuel up, forgetting to put pants on, all signs of early dementia. It harder to run out of power in an EV then a gas vehicle. The EV can actually tell you how far to the next charging station and how much power you will have left when you get there. The "fuel" gauge is also extremally accurate and recalculates how much is left depending on load. unlike a gas vehicle where you never really know how much farther you can go after the low light comes on. EV's also use regen braking to stop the car and that puts power back into the battery something a gas vehicle will never do. The smoke stack debate has been going on since EV's were invented. Here is the simple explanation as I'm no chemist. A power plant smoke stack is under strict emissions regulations and constantly monitored to be sure it meets the regulations and as scrubber technology advances the emissions get LOWER. If the plant powers 100,000 EV's the emissions of those cars get lower as the years go by. The same 100,000 gas powered cars get dirtier as the years go by due to wearing engines and failing sensors. As far as the batteries go at this time yes they have some bad chemistry but already they are getting to be less toxic elements and many companies scrambling to come up with the best forms of recycling them. We are still very early in EV technology and it will improve.

 

[mcarey]

EV in my opinion is not near ready for the truck market. Not unless you only tow down the street.

I think the harsh reality, and we all probably know this too, is that the vast majority of trucks on the road never as much see a ball hitch in it's receiver. I'd be comfortable in saying that 1 in 20 truck owners actually tow anything, and that's probably pretty far off.

I think the initial effort, also due to current capacity and range constraints to be fair, is capturing the guy who bought his 80K+ Limited, Platinum, etc spec truck to take his kids to hockey practice and pick up a dozen bags of mulch from Home Depot a few times a year.

 

[big-red-truck]

NJMopar

Did you know that Trump has a lot of land in Texas
I think it is in an area called the Badlands

Back when Texas started building Wind Farms

Several companies approached him from all over the world
They wanted to put Wind & Solar Farms on that unused land

He flat out stated that he did not want that stuff on his land

Makes me like him even more...

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

I think the harsh reality, and we all probably know this too, is that the vast majority of trucks on the road never as much see a ball hitch in it's receiver. I'd be comfortable in saying that 1 in 20 truck owners actually tow anything, and that's probably pretty far off.

I think the initial effort, also due to current capacity and range constraints to be fair, is capturing the guy who bought his 80K+ Limited, Platinum, etc spec truck to take his kids to hockey practice and pick up a dozen bags of mulch from Home Depot a few times a year.

So you are saying that not towing if you have a truck is bad? I don't tow anything with my truck and I didn't buy it to tow anything ... I bought it because I like how it looks, I also lifted my truck knowing that I am not going to be towing ...

So explain your harsh reality lol ...

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

I can see having charging stations at mall

They would get priority parking next to the Handicapped Parking
Usually someone going to the mall is going to be in there for an hour or more

Then they could bring back Drive In Theaters & every other row could have chargers

Our mall here in moreno valley has charging stations where the carpool vehicles park ...right outside what used to be a Sears ... so many people go there to charge and already they have been vandalized and have had parts stolen lol .... nothing good is going to come out of EVs seriously ..nothing

 

[Aircommuter]

Heck, the power company has already taken over homes with Solar Panels around San Diego

Solar started out as a great thing for home owners, they did not have to buy electricity from the power company.
NOW, the power company charges so much just to be connected to their line, that it almost is not worth it.

The only way to win with Solar now is to go completely OFF GRID

The San Diego Power Company has so much power from the Solar & Wind Farms, that they give excess power away to other States, rather than reduce the publics electric bill.

People ask me why i get irritated

I think
Pretty soon the States will be declaring Emanate Domain to get property so that there can be room for Charging Stations

Overall California imports 50% of its electricity.

 

[mcarey]

Most power stations in the US are already at capacity to generate that 4000 TWh. Generating 25% more WILL require more capacity. Even if the EVs aren't all charging at the same time there will still be a drag on the grid.

I assumed as much, but again, I have no clue (nor did I look for any information) around the generation capacity of the entire grid. I would love to read more about that if you have any content about it. I'm sure it exists on the EIA site somewhere.

But I think the point I was trying to make was that even if the EV ownership increased nationwide by 1000% overnight, that'd be less than ~10% of all vehicles on the road, and represent ~2.5% of the power needed from what was supplied in 2020.

And we all know that isn't going to happen overnight. Hell, even if enough people wanted to do it, I don't think manufacturers could even create enough vehicles to do that. Though it would be an interesting number-run to see how long it would take for 27 million EVs to even be produced, considering there are only ~10 million on the road now.

The necessary scale up is going to be relatively slow, and assuming the right people are aware of these increasing needs, it should be something that can be addressed.